The State government on Monday sought time till June 11 to respond to a plea by S. Nalini, the life convict in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to permit her to appear in person before the court and argue on a habeas corpus petition seeking six months’ ordinary leave to make arrangements for her daughter’s marriage.

A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M. Nirmal Kumar accepted a request made by Additional Public Prosecutor C. Iyyapparaj to adjourn the hearing on the convict’s sub application, seeking permission for personal appearance, after the summer vacation for the court between May 1 and June 2.

The judges directed the APP to take notices on behalf of the Home Secretary, Inspector General of Prisons and the Superintendent of the central prison for women in Vellore and obtain instructions from them by June 11.

They also granted liberty to the convict to approach the court even during the vacation in case of any urgency.

The convict had filed the HCP as well as the sub application from the prison through her counsel P. Pugalenthi.

Notice ordered

However, when her case was listed for hearing, no one represented on behalf of her.

Hence, the judges took up the application seeking permission for personal appearance and ordered notice on that alone to the government.

In an affidavit filed in support of her petition, the life convict had stated that she had been in prison for the last 27 years and her daughter was now residing with her grandparents in London.

Though every life convict was entitled to one month of ordinary leave on completion of every two years of imprisonment, she did not avail the benefit all these years.

However, now that there was an imminent necessity for her physical presence amongst her family members to make arrangements for her daughter’s marriage, the convict wanted to be let out on ordinary leave for six months.