Rajiv Gandhi assassination: Nalini can’t be allowed to make video calls to foreign countries, TN govt informs Madras high court

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CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday informed the Madras high court that Nalini Sriharan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, cannot be allowed to make video calls to her mother-in-law in Sri Lanka.

“There is no provision either in the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules or in government orders to allow a prisoner to make video calls or even voice calls to any person in any foreign country,” director general of Tamil Nadu prisons Jainath Singh said.

Further, issues involving a foreign country fall within the domain of the ministry of external affairs on which Tamil Nadu prison authorities or the Tamil Nadu government take unilateral decision, he added.

He added that since the offence committed by the life convicts had international ramification and given their overseas contacts with banned outfits, there was no guarantee that the convicts would use this facility for personal/family affair.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by S Padma, Nalini’s mother seeking to permit her daughter and her husband Sriharan alias Murugan to make video calls to her mother-in-law in Sri Lanka and sister-in-law in London for at least 10 minutes daily.

Murugan’s father died on April 27 and it was also alleged that he was not permitted to see the funeral of his father through video call.

Besides the bar in rules, before a prisoner is allowed to make such calls, the prison authorities must verify the bona fides of the caller on the other end so that the regulations of the department are not jeopardised.

“In this case, we cannot verify the genuineness of the caller who will speak from a foreign land and we cannot take any action against them even if they violate any regulations,” the officer added.

Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and P T Asha adjourned the hearing.