VK Sasikala, the personal aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, has requested the Parappana Agrahara prison officials to not share information regarding her release date to third party RTI applicants.
Citing the Supreme Court’s view that the right to privacy is a fundamental right, Sasikala in her letter, said furnishing any information regarding her imprisonment and other details may lead to intrusion into her privacy.
Banished from the power circles of the AIADMK, Sasikala, in her letter to the Bengaluru prison official, said she learnt that several applications were filed by third parties under the Right to Information Act seeking information about the details of her date of release from prison, adding that the motive of the applicants is to ‘complicate her lawful release’.
On September 16, in response to an RTI query, prison authorities stated that her ‘probable date’ of release is January 27, 2021. “As per prison records, convict prisoner number 9234 Sasikala’s ‘probable date of release’ is 27-01-2021, provided in-default fine amount is paid as awarded by the Honourable court. Further her ‘probable date of release’ would be 27-02-2022 if the fine is not paid,” the prison officials responded to the RTO applicant.
Speculations have been rife that Sasikala may be released as early as September. Her lawyer said that she can be released by the end of this month provided the prison officials to grant an ordinary remission on grounds of her good behaviour during her term. Her return would be a significant political development ahead of state elections in the middle of next year.
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