HC orders notice to govt on Nalini’s plea seeking leave for her daughter’s wedding

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice M Nirmal Kumar before whom the plea came up for hearing on Monday, ordered notice to the State government returnable June 11. However, in the event of any urgency, the petitioner can approach the vacation bench, the bench added.

Lodged in Vellore Prison, Nalini had moved an habeas corpus plea seeking ordinary leave to plan for the wedding of her daughter, who is living with her grandparents in London.

She submitted that she had not availed any ordinary leave during her stay in prison for the past 27 years. Despite this, her representation to DIG, Vellore Range, which was reportedly forwarded to the government, is still pending. This, she said was a violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

She also cited the plea of her mother Padmavathi on March 22 under Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982, to authorities, including IG of Prisons and Superintendent of Prisons, Special Prison for Women, Vellore, which has been kept pending.

As her plea as well as that of her mother failing to evoke any response, she sought a direction to the government and prison authorities to produce her before the court, enabling her to present her case personally and to argue the habeas corpus plea as aparty-in-person.