HC no to plea to stop release of extremists

CHENNAI, AUG 17: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition filed by a city advocate seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government not to accept the `illegal’ demand of forest brigand Veerappan for the release of five Tamil extremists as a condition for setting free abducted Kannada film star Rajkumar and three others.

The public interest petition (PIL) filed by G Krishnamurthy, was dismissed by a division bench of the court comprising Acting Chief Justice N K Jain and Justice K Ravi Raja Pandian on the ground that the court was not inclined to interfere with the government’s decision on the release of the extremists which, the bench observed, had been taken in public interest.

In his petition, the advocate contended that as the four hostages were confined in the territory of the state, the Director General of the State Police was duty-bound to rescue them and not trade extremists for securing the release of the hostages.

On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government had revoked the detention of four of the five Tamil extremists, charged under National Security Act and on Wednesday dropped TADA charges against the fifth.