TN opposes Nalini’s release

INDIA: Tamil Nadu yesterday opposed a plea for the premature release of Nalini Sriharan and three others convicted for the 1991 killing of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, prompting the Madras High Court to postpone the matter to September 17.

Appearing for the State Government, advocate general G Masilamani reiterated its opposition to the premature release of the convicts on “improper technical grounds”.

On its part, the Central Government filed an application seeking time to file a detailed response to the notice issued by the court.

Judge S Nagamuthu had last week ordered the State Government to file its counter plea during Friday’s hearing.

Nalini and the three others were sentenced to death in 2000 for murdering Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. The president of India commuted Nalini’s sentence to life imprisonment after an appeal for clemency by Rajiv Gandhi’s widow and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

While Nalini has appealed for immediate release on technical grounds citing that she had already spent 17 years in prison - a period beyond the usual maximum for a life sentence, the other convicts have filed a similar appeal saying waiting for the hangman indefinitely was worse than death.

The Tamil Nadu Government said the findings of the Advisory Board, which rejected S Nalini’s plea for premature release in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, are well considered and it stood by its decision to oppose her premature release.

The government submitted that the Board had rejected her premature release, considering the social history of the prisoner, the circumstances of her criminal behaviour and the degree of criminality.

“The degree of criminality is not only causing the death of a former Prime Minister of a nation, but also one of causing grave social unrest, shock and turmoil in the psyche of each and every Indian.”

“The authorities rightly have kept these matters in mind while arriving at a decision of not permitting premature release of the petitioner,” the government submitted.

Nalini is currently serving life imprisonment at the high-security Vellore prison.