S. Nalini, 52, a life convict in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, will appear before the Madras High Court on July 5 and argue in person a case filed by her seeking ordinary leave for six months to make arrangements for the marriage of her daughter, residing in London.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and M. Nirmal Kumar on Tuesday allowed a petition filed by the convict seeking permission for arguing the case in person without engaging a lawyer. The judges held that every litigant had a right to argue their case in person, and such right could not be denied to select individuals. However, acceding to a request made by Additional Public Prosecutor C. Ayypparaj, who urged necessary orders to ensure that she was produced in court without any unpleasant incident, the judges directed the petitioner to strictly abide by regulations under the Tamil Nadu Prison Manual.
They also ordered provision of police escort for her presence in court. The orders were passed after the convict rejected a suggestion made by the prison officials to utilise the video conferencing facility to argue the case. Her disinclination in this regard was reported to the court on Tuesday.
It was on April 9 that she filed the present plea, along with a habeas corpus petition seeking ordinary leave. Since then, the matter had been adjourned periodically since the prison officials expressed reservations about producing her before the court, citing security reasons. But the judges refused to buy the argument.
In a detailed affidavit filed in support of her petition, the convict stated that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur in May 1991, and a special court for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) cases sentenced her and other convicts to death in January 1998.
Though the Supreme Court confirmed the capital punishment in May 1999, the punishment was commuted to a life sentence by the State government in April 2000. Since then, around 3,700 life convicts had been released from various prisons in the State on completion of 10 years of incarceration, but she was not accorded the benefit. On September 9, 2018, the State Cabinet recommended the release of all seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by according them the benefit of a 1994 Government Order, which provides for the release of prisoners after 20 years of incarceration. However, the recommendation is still pending with the Governor.
Stating that every life convict was entitled to one month of ordinary leave on completion of every two years of incarceration, the petitioner said she had not availed herself of such leave even once in the last 27 years of her imprisonment. All along, she had filed several cases in the High Court and the Supreme Court, seeking premature release.
Those cases were argued by her counsel M. Radhakrishnan and P. Pugalenthi. However, this time, she evinced interest in arguing the present habeas corpus petition as a party-in-person and urged the court to direct the prison authorities to produce her in court for making her submissions.