Kollywood drums up support for ‘release Perarivalan’ campaign

A State cabinet resolution had recommended the Governor to release all seven convicts, but the latter has not yet acted on it. The Raj Bhavan reports to the Union Home Minister who is visiting Chennai on Saturday, which perhaps explains why the campaign was organised on Friday.

A few of the most popular figures from Kollywood, on Friday, including Bharathiraja, Vijay Sethupathi, Parthiban, Prakash Raj, Arya, Karthik Subbaraj, Lokesh Kanagaraj, Vaibhav, Pa Ranjith, and Naveen tweeted with the hashtag of ‘Release Perarivalan’, making it one of the “trending” topics on the social media site.

In a video, Vijay Sethupathi said, “We request the Governor to implement the apex court’s order and release Perarivalan, who is innocent and deserved to be acquitted in the case.” Director Karthik Subbaraj, tweeted, “Thirty years of jail for a man who never committed the crime...” Sharing a video of an interview with a former police officer, Prakash Raj posted, “Justice delayed is justice denied. If we had post-conviction exoneration laws, Perarivalan would have been absolved legally after this officer’s interview. Sadly, we still rely on the existing laws for his release.” Perarivalan’s mother Arputham Ammal had started the campaign in 2019 for the release of her son.