India’s HC reserves judgment on closure of High Commission in Sri Lanka

Saturday, 8 June 2013 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Hindu: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court here has reserved its judgment on a petition seeking review of an earlier order rejecting a plea to close down the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka.

The petitioner, Madurai district Hindu People Party President M. Solaikannan, had originally filed the PIL alleging there was large-scale demolition of Hindu temples in Sri Lanka and there were human rights violations against the Tamils there. The Government of India, despite being aware of the alleged human rights violations, did not take any action to address the sufferings of the Sri Lankan Tamils, he contended in his petition.

He further submitted that the High Commission of India in Colombo did not take any action to mitigate the sufferings of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Hence, there was no point in having it there, he had argued.

A Bench comprising Justices A. Selvam and M. Sathyanarayanan dismissed the PIL on 15 March this year. Solaikannan, however, filed a review petition stating that it is an “exceptional case where the judgment should be recalled to avoid irremediable justice”.

He filed the review petition under the grounds that the Tamil fishermen were subjected to brutal assaults consistently by the Sri Lankan army. This was in violation of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. Therefore, he pleaded that the judgment be set aside. A division bench comprising Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and P. Devadass heard the contentions of the petitioner’s counsel on Monday and reserved judgment.