The Habeas Corpus petition was filed in December 2019 by Nalini Sriharan, contending that she was being illegally confined by the police.
The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini Sriharan’s plea seeking her release from jail. In her petition, Nalini had alleged that she was being illegally detained by the police.
The case relates to a Habeas Corpus petition filed in December 2019 by Nalini, one of the seven persons convicted for assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In her petition, Nalini said that since the government of Tamil Nadu had passed a resolution on September 9, 2018 recommending the Governor to release all seven convicts in the case, she was currently being detailed illegally. The petition pointed out that the recommendation was pending with the Governor and that meanwhile she was being illegally confined by the police and hence she must be produced in the court and released.
A bench consisting of Justice R Subbaiah and R Pongiappan heard the case. The central government, in its arguments made by Additional Solicitor General of India Rajagopalan, submitted that since the case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is a central agency, any decision pertaining to the release of the convicts can be taken only with the concurrence of the Centre. He also stated that since a similar resolution, which was passed when former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was alive, was already rejected by the Centre, the present resolution is also invalid unless it is accepted by the Centre. He also stated that Nalini is in prison based on an order of the Supreme Court and not illegally as she had alleged in her petition and therefore sought the court to dismiss her plea.
The government of Tamil Nadu had also sought the court to dismiss Nalini’s plea stating that till the Governor takes a decision on the resolution, his powers cannot be questioned by the state government and that the state government’s duty ends with sending the recommendation to the Governor.
Meanwhile, Nalini’s counsel submitted that the state is run by the government of Tamil Nadu and not by the Governor or the union Home ministry and hence the Governor must assent to the state government’s decision to release the convicts – Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran, Robert Payas and Nalini.
The arguments in this case were closed on February 20 and on Wednesday the judges dismissed Nalini’s plea.
Source: The News Minute