The Madras High Court has on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a writ petition filed by Nalini Marugan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, till June 18. The court has adjourned the hearing of the petition, which was filed by Nalini to seek early release from prison, after the Centre & Tamil Nadu government sought two-weeks’ time to file their replies. The court had earlier asked the state government to clear its position on the matter by June 10. Nalini had filed the petition in April after her plea for early release was turned down by an advisory board last year. The Tamil Nadu government had accepted the board’s decision.

In her petition, Nalini said that she had served 17 years in Jail & could be freed based on her good behaviour. Nalini also stated that she had to take care of her teenaged daughter. Her husband, Sriharan alias Murugan, was awarded death sentence in the same case. Both of them are serving terms in the Vellore Central Prison. Nalini had initially received death sentence along with her husband Murugan & two others in the case. Her capital punishment was later commuted to life imprisonment following an appeal on humanitarian grounds by Congress president & Rajiv’s widow Sonia Gandhi, after Nalini gave birth to a baby girl in the Vellore prison.