NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh high court has permitted two Sri Lankan nationals, suspected to be LTTE militants, to leave the country.
Two Sri Lankan Tamils, Jayachandra and Sivaraja, held at a special refugee camp in Visakhapatnam, had filed a writ petition complaining that they had been in the country for over a decade, detained under various laws, including TADA and Foreigners Act.
Jayachandra and Sivaraja were arrested near Visakhapatnam in 1993 for entering the country illegally. They were convicted by a designated TADA judge and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.
The sentence ended in 1996, but both Jayachandra and Sivaraja refused to return to Sri Lanka apprehending danger to their lives. In absence of documents that could have enabled them to stay on in India, the two were detained under the Foreigners' Act.
A few months back, they filed a writ petition in the high court stating that though they were willing to leave India for a country of their choice, the government was not permitting them to do so.
The court said the inaction on the part of the government in not responding positively to the refugees' plea was a serious violation of human rights and directed that the two be allowed to leave the country without the government insisting on a visa.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
