The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the government to respond in two weeks to a public interest litigation petition seeking an enquiry by a retired High Court Judge into the incidents at Marakkanam in Villupuram district on April 25.
The petition was filed by G.K.Mani, president of the PMK. Besides going into the incidents, the retired Judge should also probe the subsequent events leading to the “illegal arrests and misuse of powers” by invoking preventive detention laws against the party leaders and workers, the petitioner said.
The petitioner alleged that PMK volunteers were being harassed by police.
When the matter came up before the First Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice R.K.Agrawal and Justice M.Sathyanarayanan, the petitioner’s senior counsel, R.Gandhi, said 7,000 PMK workers were arrested and subsequently a majority of them were released. The arrests were indiscriminate.
