2,200 freed, why not me, asks Nalini

Chennai: Nalini Sriharan, one of the convicts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has submitted a petition to the National Commission for Women with a plea to impress upon the Union government to exercise its powers under Article 72 of the Constitution and release her from prison, since she is the longest serving woman prisoner in the country.

Noting that she had already completed 25 years in prison, Nalini said “In all the states women life convicts are given preference in the matter of premature release after completion of 10 or 14 years of imprisonment.

In Tamil Nadu also, more than 2,200 life convicts were released after completion of only 7 years or 10 years or 14 years of imprisonment during the period between 2001 and 2008”.

She pointed out that the state government had already taken a decision to release her from prison along with others convicted in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case and recalled that she had given birth to her daughter in prison in 1992 and she is abroad in her paternal uncle’s house in the UK. Her husband is also a life convict suffering imprisonment for life in prison. “For  25 long years, I have not been able to live my life as an ordinary woman and I spend my days in prison watching hundreds of women prisoners getting released from prison time and again on important days like Perarignar Anna’s birthday.  No day passes without tears. I have almost become depressed. My only longing is whether I would be able to see my daughter who is abroad  and whether I would be able to arrange her marriage during my life-time”, she said. Nalini added she had all along been eligible to be released from prison under various premature release schemes in Tamil Nadu.