Rajiv Gandhi's assassin

Updated: September 23, 2009 13:07 IST

Nalini Sriharan, the woman convicted for assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, says she's had enough and after over 18 years in prison, she deserves to be free.

Campaigning for her release from Vellore jail in Tamil Nadu, Nalini hit headlines on Monday, September 21, after she began an indefinite hunger strike. The protest ended two days later after jail authorities assured her that they would form an advisory board next month to consider her plea for premature release.

Nalini had accompanied the suicide bomber squad to the election rally where Rajiv Gandhi was killed in May 1991. Nalini, her husband and former Tamil Tiger guerrilla Murugan and two other rebels were sentenced to death for their role in the killing of Gandhi. (NDTV Photo)

Nalini's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at Congress President Sonia Gandhi's request after Nalini gave birth to a little girl, Meghara, inside jail. Sonia Gandhi pleaded that she didn't want Meghara to be orphaned. (AFP Photo)

Hope for Nalini's early release brightened after Priyanka Gandhi secretly met her on March 19, 2008. Priyanka, who was a teenager when her father was killed, told NDTV that she had forgiven her father's killer. (NDTV Photo)

In 2007, Nalini had asked the Madras High Court to release her from jail on the grounds of good conduct. An advisory board rejected this proposal. The court ordered the Tamil Nadu government to then set up another advisory board to consider Nalini's petition. This new board is yet to be formed.

Nalini approached the Madras High Court yet again, with this plea: "I would like to settle down peacefully... I am already 43. Due to my health condition after 18 years in jail, I cannot expect to live long.'' (NDTV Photo)

In this picture taken on May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi (R) is greeted as he arrives to make an address during an election campaign moments before he was killed by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. The suspected Tamil guerrilla assassin is in the bottom left corner of the picture with flowers on her head. (AFP Photo)

Sonia Gandhi (C), and her daughter Priyanka (R), lead the coffin carrying the remains of Rajiv on an Air Force plane in New Delhi on May 22, 1991.

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, was assassinated by a woman activist allegedly belonging to Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. (AFP Photo)

A May 24, 1991 file photo shows the funeral procession for slain prime minister Rajiv Gandhi moving through the crowded streets of New Delhi. (AFP Photo)

In this picture taken on May 24, 1991, Sonia Gandhi, her daughter Priyanka (2R) and son Rahul (2L), turn to chanting mourners during the funeral of Rajiv Gandhi at Shakti Sthal on the banks of the River Yamuna in New Delhi. (AFP Photo)

Mourners shown in photo dated May 24, 1991 throwing flowers on the burning funeral pyre of slain former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Shakti Sthal on the banks of the holy Yamuna River. (AFP Photo)

In this file picture taken on May 27, 1991, Sonia Gandhi lays a garland on the urns containing the ashes of her husband Rajiv Gandhi. (AFP Photo)

Congress party supporters set up a huge cut-out of slain prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in front of the Rajiv Gandhi memorial in Sriperumpudur, on May 20, 2004, on the eve of the 13th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. (AFP Photo)

Sonia Gandhi pays tributes during a memorial ceremony for her late husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 2008. (AFP Photo)

A Congress party supporter prepares to scatter petals while paying tribute to a portrait of slain Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a ceremony at Congress regional headquarters in Srinagar on August 20, 2009 to mark Gandhi's 65th birth anniversary. (AFP Photo)

Activists of The All India Anti-Terrorist Front pose with posters featuring former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group 18 years ago, outside the Sri Lankan Embassy to congratulate the Sri Lankan government on defeating the LTTE in New Delhi on May 21, 2009.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner C. R. Jaisinghe was presented a sword of honour along with a turban, symbols of bravery on the occasion of the 18th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. (AFP Photo)

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