Nalini Sriharan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was on Thursday released on month-long ordinary parole from Vellore Central Prison in Tamil Nadu to make arrangements for her daughter’s wedding.
The Madras High Court had on July 5 granted Nalini the parole. She is serving a life sentence in the case.
Meanwhile, the High Court has ordered Nalini not to give any interviews and not to meet any political person while out on parole.
Nalini, who was lodged in the Special Prison for Women in Vellore for the last over 27 years, had sought six months leave to make arrangements for the marriage of her daughter.
Besides Nalini, six others, including her husband Murugan, a Sri Lankan national, are serving life imprisonment in the case related to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by an LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally at Sriperumpudur near here on May 21, 1991.
Last week, the Madras High Court had dismissed a petition filed by Nalini Sriharan seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu Governor for her premature release.
A division bench comprising Justices R Subbaiah and C Saravanan held that Article 361 of the Constitution insulated the Governor of a state from being questioned or answerable before any court with respect to discharge his official duties.
Quoting Supreme Court verdicts, the bench said the law gives complete immunity and privilege to the Governor in discharge of his Constitutional obligations.
The matter relates to the September 9, 2018 advice of the council of ministers to Governor Banwarilal Purohit to release Nalini and six others involved in the assassination of the former prime minister.
The cabinet had adopted a resolution to this effect and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar had said the Governor had to accept the decision by virtue of being the executive head of the state.
Nalini had moved the High Court, seeking a direction to the Governor to countersign the advice of the council of ministers.
The cabinet decided to release the convicts — V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthanthiraraja alias Santhan, A G Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and Nalini — under Article 161 of the Constitution.
Earlier in May, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami had said the AIADMK government was committed to the release of the seven convicts and asked the Governor to take a call.
Tamil groups and various opposition leaders have intensified calls for the release of the seven convicts especially after the Supreme Court in May disposed of a plea against their release by the family members of the other victims of the 1991 incident in which Rajiv Gandhi was killed.