TN rejects Nalini’s request for release

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday rejected the request for premature release filed by Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

In his submission to the Division Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Elipe Dharma Rao and K. K. Sasidharan, Advocate-General P.S. Raman said the Prison Advisory Board (PAB) had submitted its report rejecting the appeal on eight grounds. The government had decided on Monday to accept the Board’s request, he said.

PTI adds:

The bench was hearing a petition by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy challenging a September 2008 order by a single judge directing the State government to constitute the advisory board to consider the release of Nalini, who is in prison for the last 19 years.

The court on March 11 had asked the State government to take a decision within two weeks on her plea after the AG submitted that the the PAB’s report was being examined.

Nalini was sentenced to death by a special court along with 25 others in January 1998 and the Supreme Court had confirmed the capital punishment for her and three others.

However, her death penalty was commuted to life by the State government on April 24, 2000 allowing a clemency petition. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had favoured reduction of her punishment considering the plight of Nalini’s young daughter.

An earlier plea by Nalini for premature release was rejected by authorities in October 2007.

The Hindu