Court order served on dead politco; police directed to cemetery

M u l l a i t iv u police officers were directed to a cemetery by the son of a Tamil politician when they went to his residence to serve a court order banning commemorat ive events for a fallen commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) .

On Friday, Mullaitivu police filed a case under the Penal Code and secured a court order against four people, including former Northern Province councillor Anton Jeganathan, who died in 2016.

The police told court that Mr. Jeganathan and several others were planning to observe commemorative events in the Jaffna district in honour of Rasaiah Partheepan alias Thileepan, an LTTE commander who died while on a hunger strike in 1987.

When the police went to the residence of Mr. Jeganathan, his son directed them to the Unnapulavu cemetery where his fathers remains had been buried.

On Thursday, Jaffna police arrested three people, including Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF) Parliamentarian S. Kajendran, when they tried to commemorate the former LTTE commander.

Mr. Kajendran was later granted police bail with instructions to appear before court tomorrow.

Tamil Parliamentarians including Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran condemned the police action, describing it as arbitrary and unlawful.

Tamil Makkal Kootani Parliamentarian and former Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran said an MP being dragged by the Police like a common criminal was a high handed act. “To my knowledge, there is no law which states we cannot remember our dead,” he said.