The Madras High Court today directed a prison advisory board to consider afresh a plea by Nalini, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, for premature release, and asked it to pass orders in accordance with the law.

The court also quashed the board's rejection order of Nalini's plea. Justice S Nagamuthu observed that the Advisory Board of the Vellore Prison, where Nalini is lodged, had not followed certain parameters stipulated in the Tamil Nadu Prisons Rules while considering her plea.

Though the petitioner cannot claim premature release as matter of right, they have the right to request the government to consider whether they should be given premature release.

Nalini had moved the Madras High Court seeking premature release, after being in the prison for 17 years. The Advisory Board had rejected the plea for premature release, saying it was not sure that her emotional attachment to the LTTE has reduced, and she will not again indulge in unlawful act to support their cause.

Initially awarded death sentence, it was later commuted to life following an appeal by Congress president Sonia Gandhi that Nalini had given birth to a baby girl in the jail.