Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

What POTA says on support for terrorism

By K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI July 4. Tamil Nadu has joined the select band of States, which invoked the recently-enacted Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against a citizen.

Close on the heels of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa's letter to the Union Home Minister about the MDMK general secretary, Vaiko's reported pro-LTTE speech at Tirumangalam, near Madurai, and the Government's intention to arrest him under the POTA, the police today registered a case.

As per the FIR, the case has been registered under Section 21 (2) (3) of the special Act, enacted by the Centre to effectively control terrorist activities.

The provision of an offence for support given to a terrorist organisation lays down that ``a person commits an offence if he arranges, manages or assists in arranging or managing a meeting which he knows is (a) to support a terrorist organisation, (b) to further the activities of a terrorist organisation, or (c) to be addressed by a person who belongs or professes to belong to a terrorist organisation".

Under Section 3, ``a person commits an offence if he addresses a meeting for encouraging support to a terrorist organisation or to further its activities.

The punishment for an offence under the Section, on conviction, is 10-year imprisonment with fine or both.

The expression ``meeting'' means ``a meeting of three or more persons, whether or not the public are admitted''.

The case has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, besides the stringent provisions of the POTA.

The LTTE is among the 30-odd organisations banned by the Union Government under the POTA.

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