Nalini, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case, on Friday sought premature release as she had completed 15 years of solitary confinement in the Women's Jail at Vellore.

In a petition filed with the Madras High Court, Nalini challenged a government order that ordered the release of 472 convicts who had completed 10 years of imprisonment on the occasion of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder late C N Annadurai's birth anniversary.

The order had excluded her release by invoking Section 435 of the CrPC, which curtailed 'the powers of the state to remit a sentence in any case where the sentence is for an offence, which was investigated by the Delhi Special police establishment or any other agencies empowered to make investigation into an offence under any Central act other than the CrPC', she said in her petition.

The order was discriminatory and violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, she contended.

'Life convicts undergoing imprisonment for offences investigated by the CBI or other agencies of the state government are similarly placed. They cannot be treated discriminatorily in the matter of consideration for their premature release', she said.

Admitting the petition, Justice Prabha Sridevan ordered issuance of notice to the Tamil Nadu government, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) and Superintendent of the Special Prison for Women in Vellore and sought their response within three weeks.

Nalini, along with her husband Murugan and three others, were awarded capital punishment by a special court, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Governor.