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Central Review Committee on POTA meets today

By J. Venkatesan

New Delhi Nov. 11. The Central Review Committee, headed by Justice A.B. Saharya, will meet tomorrow to review the cases of the MDMK leader, Vaiko, the Editor of Nakkheeran, R.R. Gopal, and others arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

M.U. Rehman, IAS (retd.), and Arvind S. Inamdar, IPS (retd.) are the other members of the committee.

The meeting assumes significance in the context of the committee having been empowered to decide whether there is a prima facie case for proceeding against the accused arrested under the Act and issue directions accordingly.

Acting on complaints received on behalf of Mr. Vaiko and others, the committee could now go into the root of the matter and decide whether the invocation of POTA in their cases is warranted or not and then give its finding which would be binding on the enforcement authorities, viz, the Centre, the State and the police.

The committee, in its previous two sittings, considered the cases of Mr. Vaiko and Mr. Gopal but wanted some more material from the State Government. While Mr. Vaiko has been in prison since July 2002, Mr. Gopal has been incarcerated since April this year. Last week, the Tamil Nadu Government had sent the materials asked for in respect of Mr. Vaiko but regarding Mr. Gopal, it has yet to respond in full. However, the committee is understood to have decided to take up the cases of both Mr. Vaiko and Mr. Gopal based on the materials collected.

Asked whether any immediate decision was expected, Mr. Justice Saharya told The Hindu that "the meeting may spill over to Thursday and any decision would depend on how the other two members feel".

Formal complaints filed before the committee on behalf of eight other MDMK leaders arrested along with Mr. Vaiko are being processed.

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