The Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, has filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the State government from implementing any proposal for the premature release of life convicts to mark the World Classical Tamil Conference (WCTC) which began in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
In the affidavit, filed by V.S. Chandralekha, State president of the party, who said she had been authorised by Dr. Swamy to file the petition, the petitioner submitted that in 2008 the Tamil Nadu government had released 1,405 life convicts prematurely to mark the birth centenary of the DMK founder, C.N. Annadurai.
He had filed a writ petition challenging the G.O. concerned and the same was pending final disposal. By an interim order, a Division Bench had permitted such premature release on the condition that the order of release was subject to the outcome of his petition. The government was yet to file its counter.
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The latest proposal of the government is to release 500 life convicts to mark the WCTC. Such a proposal on the basis of political considerations clearly indicated that the State was trying to undo what had been done judicially. Hence, the government should be restrained from going ahead with its latest proposal, the petitioner said.