Tamil Nadu Government to take decision on Nalini's release within two weeks - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday said that it will take a decision on the plea for premature release of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini Sriharan in two weeks time. This was informed to the Madras High Court by the counsel for the State Government. The government also submitted the Prison Advisory Board report on the plea to the High Court. "Hopefully we should be able to report the decision before March 29, but the truth of the matter is the government has asked for certain additional details from the board and collector. For some factors, beyond the government's control, if the decision making process takes a little longer we may have to ask the court for some more time," said P S Raman, Advocate General of the Tamil Nadu Government. Nalini, who is undergoing life imprisonment, is lodged at the Vellore Central Jail. On Wednesday, the two Judge Bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice K.K. Sasidharan had asked the State Government to submit the report on Thursday. The Tamil Nadu Government advocate G.Desingu claimed that the Government had just received the report and sought time to study it. Nalini's original death sentence was commuted to life in prison after Sonia Gandhi intervened and asked for the reprieve for Nalini after the assassin had a baby daughter. In September 2009, Nalini went on a hunger strike to demand that she be set free. In her appeal to the Madras High Court, she said, "I would like to settle down peacefully... I am already 43. Due to my health condition after 18 years in jail, I cannot expect to live long."