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Wigneswaran defends raising convicts’ issue with Modi

25 April 2015 06:51 am - 7     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran yesterday strongly defended his action of forwarding to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a representation, seeking the release of four convicts of a case of rape and murder, popularly called the Premananda case.

Addressed to Mr. Modi, the petition was signed by five persons, including K. Sivathy and Chandradevi, daughter and wife of Premananda’s secretary Kamalananda, who was given double life term that had to run consecutively. The signatories contended that their relatives had been in prison in Tamil Nadu for over 20 years.

In an interview with The Hindu over phone from Jaffna, Mr. Wigneswaran, who passed on the representation to Mr. Modi during the latter’s visit to Sri Lanka in mid-March, said one of the signatories to the representation [Ms Sivathy] was from his State and since it was well known that he [Mr. Wigneswaran] would be meeting Mr. Modi, the request had come to him for presenting the communication.

‘No impropriety’

“There is no impropriety in forwarding a representation to the person concerned,” he said, adding that “it is up to the Indian government to act as per law.”
The Chief Minister recalled that when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, he did the same thing on an issue concerning fishermen. A self-styled godman, Premananda, who hailed from Sri Lanka, established ‘Premananda Ashram’ near Viralimalai of Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu in 1989. The case pertained to the rape of 13 inmates and the murder of a male inmate, which came to light in November 1994. He was given two consecutive life terms by the Pudukottai District and Sessions Court in August 1997 after a 14-month-long trial. Six others were also convicted and given varying punishments. In December 2002, the Madras High Court confirmed the findings of the trial court and the Supreme Court had also dismissed the appeal. Premananda died in February 2011 at a private hospital in Chennai where he was undergoing treatment for liver failure. He was 59.

Asked about his description of the Premananda case as false in his letter to Mr Modi, the Chief Minister said “there is nothing for me to comment” about a case that had taken place in India.

Describing Premananda as a “very close friend,” Mr. Wigneswaran said he had known him for long.(The Hindu)

 

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  Comments - 7

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  • Waco Saturday, 25 April 2015 12:43 PM

    Mr.President please reding , you can not effectively run the country.

    Senaka Saturday, 25 April 2015 01:18 PM

    This is a clear case of impropriety and overstepping of his powers. Premananda is a convicted criminal of Lankan origin in India and Wigneswaran is a civil servant. So it is the duty of Wigneswaran to route his petition through the SL External Affairs Ministry. No wonder Lankans have reasonable fears about the devolution of powers to PCs.

    Ragu Saturday, 25 April 2015 01:41 PM

    Sri Lankan politicians MUST learn not to interfere in the legal system. Make a stand. Break the cycle!

    Ryan Hudson Saturday, 25 April 2015 07:31 PM

    In the electoral reforms, sinhala, burgher and malay votes should be multiplied by 1.5 times to give approrpriate representation of MPs in the parliament while tamil and muslim votes must be taken as one for each vote. later tamil votes also should be multiplied by 1.5 as mulsims are growing 10 times other races

    Menike Saturday, 25 April 2015 07:55 PM

    His statement that he is a governor of a "state" indicates that he believes he is the governor of the "state of Eelam". When will the current GOSL accept that "Eelam" is alive and well and not support this goal?He acknowledges that the rapist was a close friend for a long time, he supported him even at the trial. If there is truth in the saying "birds of a feather flock together" what does that make Wigneswaran?

    Prem Nath Sunday, 26 April 2015 11:27 AM

    Why is this man yet allowed to continue as CM in spite of of abuse of power and by passing the central government in foreign affairs?

    sanchay Sunday, 26 April 2015 03:01 PM

    what non-sense! because they are also ethnic Tamils like you it is not morally representable to ask for their release eventhough they are rightfully convicted under the law for their deeds.


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