Swamy assaulted in Madras High Court

Walter JAYAWARDHANA

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy said hirelings of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who also happened to be advocates of the Madras High Court assaulted him and the police in front of the judges.

He told the press that there is a breakdown of the law and order situation in the state of Tamil Nadu where the LTTE hirelings have taken the law into their hands.

He further said he will approach the Supreme Court of India seeking a direction to the government to put in place pre-emptive and protective arrangements to stop repetition of what had happened on Tuesday March 17 in Madras High Court in which he was assaulted by a group of practicing lawyers in the presence of judges.

His main prayer, said Swamy, to the Supreme Court would be to direct the Central government in New Delhi to file an affidavit in why it had not taken steps to dismiss the state government as there was a constitutional breakdown in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The state is run by an administration of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (DMK) headed by M. Karunanidhi.

Swamy said a pre-emptive and protective arrangement was necessary to protect the courts. He also said he would also pray for the direction for the cancellation of practice by the lawyers who were involved in the attack. He charged a breakdown of law and order in the Tamil Nadu state.

He directly charged those culprits as hirelings of the LTTE and said the incident in the courts called for the imposition of President rule in the state. He said the deployment of Central Forces are necessary in the state during the Lok Sabha elections.

He said he did not need to go to the police for a complaint as the police officers were also beaten by the lawyers. Under the Criminal Procedure Code the police officers, Swamy said are empowered, to take suo motu cognisance of an offence under those circumstances.

Finance Minister Anbazhagan said the police will take action against the incident.