The Madras High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Chennai city police on a case filed by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko seeking to quash a charge levelled against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 during the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime in 2009.
When the quash petition came up for admission, Justice P.N. Prakash directed the Additional Public Prosecutor to take notice on behalf of the State government, represented by the Inspector of Triplicane police station here, and obtain necessary instructions from the prosecuting agency within four weeks.According to Mr. Vaiko, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) political wing leader Suba Tamilselvan was killed during bombardment by the Sri Lankan military in the island nation on November 3, 2007. Therefore, their sympathiser Pazha Nedumaran organised a procession here to condole the death.
He invited various leaders to the participate in the procession, and hence many, including the present petitioner, assembled near the statue of Thomas Munro here on November 12, 2007. However, the police prevented them from proceeding further for want of permission and registered a criminal case against 262 participants. Though the case was booked in 2007 and a charge sheet was laid before a Metropolitan Magistrate court at Egmore here on December 11, 2009, the case had been lying in a limbo all along with no summons having been issued to any of the 262 accused mentioned in the charge sheet, the petitioner claimed.
The MDMK leader said he came to know of the charge sheet having been filed in the case only when he applied for renewal of his passport in 2015. Immediately, he appeared before the Magistrate and had been pursuing the case since then. Yet, the prosecution was yet to serve summons on the other 261 accused. Mr. Vaiko said the only grave charge levelled against him was under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act whereas the other two charges were simple in nature.
