Sasikala asks jail authorities not to share information on her release via RTI

AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, who is currently serving her four-year jail sentence in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, has written to authorities of Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru not to entertain queries about her release date from “third parties” under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

66-year-old Sasikala, a long-time aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, said the information received about her release under RTI are being used by “third parties” to “gain publicity” and settle “political vendetta.”

Sasikala made the representation to the Chief Superintendent of the prison in a two-page letter prepared in English by her counsel N Raja Senthoor Pandian and read out to her in Tamil. Sasikala was sentenced to four-year imprisonment in the DA case in which Jayalalithaa was the prime accused. But the latter had died before the Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s verdict in February 2017.

Read: Sasikala to walk out of jail in January?

In the letter, Sasikala said it has come to her notice that several applications are filed by “third parties” seeking information about her imprisonment, date of release, and other details.

“The said third parties file those applications for certain reasons viz., gain publicity, political vendetta etc. The oblique motive of some of the applicants is to complicate my lawful release at the right time,” she wrote in the letter.

Sasikala also contended that furnishing any information regarding imprisonment and other details may lead to intrusion into her privacy. To bolster her point further, she also referred to Tihar Jail’s refusal to share information relating to an undertrial prisoner on the count that providing details of under trial prisoners as well as convicts and any revelation of the identity of the same is barred under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI act.

“The Central Information Commission concurred with the stand the said Public Information Officer and upheld the decision of the said PIO by referring the Hon'ble Supreme Court's view that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right. Thus, furnishing any information regarding imprisonment and other details may lead to intrusion into my privacy,” Sasikala said in the letter

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Her letter comes amid a slew of RTI replies about her probable release date and whether she is eligible for remission. A recent reply from the prison authorities under RTI had said that the probable date for Sasikala’s release is January 27, 2021.

However, maintains that Sasikala should walk free from the jail by the end of September or early October as she is eligible for “remission” on grounds of non-availed regular leave. He also said they will soon move a court in Bengaluru to pay the fine of Rs 10 crore imposed on Sasikala by the Supreme Court.

Sasikala’s release from the jail might lead to political changes in AIADMK as several Ministers and MLAs owe their positions to her.