Nalini, Rajiv Gandhi's assassin, wants to leave jail

Chennai: Nalini Sriharan has spent 18 years at the Vellore jail in Tamil Nadu. The woman convicted for assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi says she's had enough. Campaigning for her release from jail, Nalini has begun an indefinite hunger strike.

Nalini's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at 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.

In 2007, Nalini 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.

Hope for Nalini's early release brightened after Priyanka Gandhi secretly met her last year.  Priyanka, who was a teenager when her father was killed, told NDTV that she had forgiven her father's killer.

Nalini has 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.''