Madras HC notice to TN govt on petition by Nalini's mother

The Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition from the mother of Nalini Sriharan, a life convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to permit her daughter and husband to talk with his mother and sister through WhatsApp for 10 minutes daily.

The division bench, comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and R Hemalatha gave the direction when the Habeas Corpus Petition filed by Nalini's mother came up before it today and posted the matter for further hearing to May 22.

The petitioner, while referring to the demise of the father of Murugan in Sri Lanka on April 27 2020, said his request to watch the last rites of his father over WhatsApp video was not granted by the Tamil Nadu government. She further submitted that Nalini spoke to her over phone on April 28 and requested her to file an application to the prison authorities and the Home Department for permission to talk with Murugan's mother and his sister, who is in London, through WhatsApp for 10 minutes daily.

As per her request, the petitioner said she filed an application to the prison authorities on May 4, but till date no decision was taken by the authorities, "which is violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution." Hence the petitioner sought a direction to the authorities to grant permission. Besides Nalini, her husband Murugan, A G Perarivalan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Robert Pyas are serving life imprisonment for their role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber at nearby Sriperumbudur.

They were initially sentenced to death, but later it was commuted to life imprisonment.