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From death row to life term to
possible freedom, Nalini & the House of Gandhis
WSN Bureau
 Chennai: In a
sign of rare humanity emerging from the ruling Indian establishment,
Nalini Sriharan who has spent 19 years in prison after her
conviction for being part of the conspiracy to kill Rajiv Gandhi,
may possibly walk free.
Clearly a move
blessed by 10, Janpath, the House of Gandhis, an advisory board
constituted by the Tamil Nadu government is now moving to recommend
that she was eligible for “premature release” from jail.
She has already
spent 19 years in jail, and has a young daughter. Her husband too is
in jail awaiting execution.
Ostensibly, the
board comprising the collector, district judge, probation officer,
and the superintendent of the Vellore prison for women considered
all these facts and last week Nalini appeared before it and deposed
for about 10 minutes. Then the board sent its recommendation to the
Tamil Nadu government. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi told
reporters that "when Sonia Gandhi is being magnanimous, why should
he not be?"
She was arrested
on June 14, 1991, and was sentenced to death, along with 25 others,
by a special court here on January 28, 1998. However, the SC
confirmed death only on four of the convicts, including Nalini, on
May 11, 1999. Her death sentence was commuted to life by the TN
governor based on Nalini’s clemency plea, Sonia Gandhi’s public
statements and advice from the state cabinet, in April 2000.
First signs that
the House of Gandhis was inclined to project a better face came
when, following rejection of Nalini’s request for a premature
release after nearly 17 years in jail, Priyanka Gandhi went to meet
her on March 19, 2008 at the Special Prison for Women at Vellore in
a hush-hush manner. Later, Priyanka publicly said that just as she
had suffered without a father, so has Nalini too. The remarks
projected the Gandhis in a positive light but there is no way of
telling how genuine are their sentiments because in the cut and
thrust of politics, every emotion and every word lends itself to
political axe grinding too.
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Contrast it with
Sikh cases
 Even as a death
row convict in Rajiv Gandhi case is pulled off the gallows and given
a life term, and then life term is being commuted in view of good
conduct and now she is readying to walk free, contrast the
developments with the treatment being meted out to two Sikh
convicts.
Prof Devinderpal
Singh Bhullar, a death row convict for whom law makers from several
countries have made appeals and whose conviction is clearly a case
of judicial error, continues to find himself poised for the gallows.
Irrespective of the fact that Prof Bhullar is the wronged party
himself, the Indian nation state is refusing to listen to reason and
logic. Sikhs have been leading a campaign for Prof Bhullar for years
now, and at one stage, both Gurcharan Singh Tohra (now deceased) and
Parkash Singh Badal, had met the President of India to seek release
of Bhullar.
The other case
is that of Ranjit Singh Kuki, convicted in the Maken murder case,
where even the daughter of the killed man and his other relatives
have been advocating the release and freedom of Ranjit Singh. While
the Shiela Dixit government did seem amenable to reason, clearly the
big political push required to ensure complete freedom of Ranjit
Singh is still not coming through. He was recently made to surrender
again before police after his parole was cancelled.
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27January 2010
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