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Vaiko acquittal
 As
expected in all circles, the POTA Review Committee recently delivered its order
that there was no prima facie case for proceeding against Vaiko and eight other
MDMK functionaries under POTA, who were alleged to have spoken in support of the
LTTE, a banned organisation, at a political meeting at Thirumangalam, near
Madurai, in June 2002.
The committee had clearly
stated in its order that expressing oral sympathy would not come within the
ambit of encouraging terrorists or terrorist activities.
The order of the POTA Review
Committee can be acclaimed as a landmark order for the main reason that it has
upheld the freedom of expression, enshrined in the Constitution. But, at the
same time, it is deplorable that the committee had taken such a long time to
deliver its order - ignoring the general principle of law that 'justice delayed
is justice denied'.
It
was already expressed in these columns when the ordinance amending POTA was
issued, delegating more powers to the review committee, that a minimum
time-frame should be prescribed for the committee to deliver its order
expeditiously so that the innocent victims need not undergo imprisonment
unnecessarily for a long period of time.
The committee has taken nearly
six months to deliver its order in the Vaiko case and it is high time the Centre
prescribed a time limit of two or three months for the committee ruling, to
prevent gross misuse of the Act by the ruling party against its rivals.
The question which has been on
everyone's mind after the review committee's view is what is the compensation
the law can give the victims for having undergone more than one year of
imprisonment though they had not committed any act of crime.
Vaiko had also raised the
question: "I and my eight collegues have been exonerated, but how will the
19 months of incarceration we suffered be compensated. The precious days which
were lost could never be got back."
This is not only a lacuna
existing in POTA but in the entire criminal legal system of our country. The
police have been foisting cases and arresting innocents and the courts have also
been remanding them to judicial custody.
It would take at least a few
days for the arrested persons to get bail. When the case has not been proved in
court, there is no legal remedy for the victim who has undergone imprisonment in
spite of the fact that he/she is innocent.
 So
the legal experts should think of providing some protection to such victims and
the law should bommerang on the government and the police for such illegal
imprisonment as the present provisions are inadequate.
While commenting on the review
committee's order, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary L Ganesan had
observed that the committe's order was only a recommendation and the court's
decision was awaited. Previously, when the powers of the committee were only
"recommendatory" in nature, it was the BJP government which came up
with an ordinance during October 2003 to empower the committee with more powers
and its decision was made binding on the Centre, states and investigating
officers.
But, at that time, Vaiko was
with the NDA and now he switched over to the other side and so Ganesan has given
a different interpretation to the powers of the review committee, forgetting
about the ordinance passed by his won government, making the rulings of the
committee mandatory.
Once again, the AIADMK
government has announced that it would go on an appeal at the Madras High Court
against the order of the review committee.
The Supreme Court had recently
dismissed the petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government and upheld the powers
of the review committee.
In
an earlier case relating to POTA, the Supreme Court clarified that mere verbal
expression of support cannot come under the ambit of the Act and a positive
inference was required that a person acted with the intent of furthering or
encouraging terrorist activities or facilitating its commission.
But even after all such legal
clarifications issued by the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu government chose to
appeal against the order of review committee.
This only proves the charge of
the Tamil Nadu opposition parties that the ruling AIADMK government has been
indulging in political vendetta and has been misusing the provisions of POTA to
settle scores with political rivals.
Harvey
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