Nalini Sriharan, Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict, gets three weeks extension in parole

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 22, 2019 : Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict Nalini Sriharan gets three weeks parole extension,Yahoo reported.

 

The Madras High Court on Thursday extended the parole of Nalini Sriharan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, by three weeks. Nalini had moved the High Court seeking an extension of her ongoing parole by 30 days. The court on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to file its reply on Nalini’s plea.

Nalini was granted ordinary parole for 30 days last month to make arrangements for her daughter’s marriage. She was released from the Vellore Central Prison on July 25. The court had, however, issued guidelines to be followed by her during the parole period and asked her specifically to not meet or speak to media. Nalini has been residing at Sathuvachari since then.

In her current petition, Nalini said that despite her sincere efforts, she was not able to complete the arrangements for the marriage of her daughter and therefore needs more time. She had originally sought a six-month leave from the jail.

On Wednesday, during the hearing of Nalini’s leave plea, the public prosecutor had submitted in the court that the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules provides for a maximum period of 30 days as ordinary leave (parole) for a convict at a point of time and hence, the court can consider granting leave within the maximum limit.

Earlier in 2016, she was granted emergency parole for 12 hours to attend the last rites of her father.

She was arrested in 1991 for her role in the killing of then PM Rajiv Gandhi. She was awarded capital punishment by a TADA court and the Supreme Court upheld her punishment. However, her death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by the Tamil Nadu government in 2000.

Nalini had been lodged in prison for over 27 years, thus becoming the country’s longest-serving woman prisoner. She is one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. All are serving life sentence for their role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by an LTTE suicide bomber on May 21, 1991 in nearby Sriperumpudur.