Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has moved the Madras High Court again seeking to quash a government order of March this year, rejecting her request for premature release, and to direct the State Home Secretary to reconsider her plea and pass orders within a reasonable time.
In her petition, Nalini (44), said she had been in the Special Prison for Women, Vellore, for the past 19 years. Earlier, she challenged a G.O. of October 31, 2007, rejecting her request for premature release under the advisory board scheme.
PTI adds
Nalini, serving life term in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on Monday moved Madras High Court challenging Tamil Nadu Government’s recent decision rejecting her request for premature release.
In a petition seeking quashing of the March 24 Government Order, 44-year old Nalini said the Prison Advisory Board had instead of considering the object of premature release gone into the nature of crime committed by a life convict.
Nalini’s latest petition comes a week after the High Court dismissed her plea seeking premature release under the general amnesty scheme after the government turned down her request.
“Instead of considering the object of premature release viz. reformation, rehabilitation of prisoners, the respondent has unfortunately considered the nature of crime committed by a life convict for which she has been punished in accordance with law and has been undergoing life imprisonment,” she said.
The PAB, set up by the State Government to consider her request for premature release, had rejected her plea saying the gravity of her crime was heinous and she has no regrets about it.
The Board had said Nalini had harboured the prime accused, had been associated with the accused and was informed about the assassination plot well in advance.
Contending that the board’s observation was contrary to the “conclusion” of the Supreme Court regarding the guilt of the petitioner, she said one of the judges had observed that she realised only at Sriperumbudur that Dhanu, the human bomb, was going to kill Rajiv Gandhi.
She also said the Government had cited no reason for concluding that her release would cause law and problem in the locality where her family is residing.
Nalini was sentenced to death by a special court along with 25 others in January 1998 in the assassination case and the Supreme Court had confirmed the capital punishment for her and three others. But, her death penalty was commuted to life by the State Government on April 24, 2000, allowing a clemency petition.
In 2007 also she had unsuccessfully appealed for premature release.
