The Hindu : Vaiko to abide by court conditions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Vaiko to abide by court conditions

By R.K.Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, FEB. 5. Vaiko, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) detenu, today filed a memo of undertaking in the Poonamallee special court, which offered him bail.

The undertaking said he would abide by the conditions imposed by the special court. He would appear before the court on all working days; cooperate in the conduct of trial without resistance; assist and cooperate fully in defending his case; allow the court to pronounce a judgment by June 30 and that he would not cause the court to adjourn the case on the ground that he or his counsel could not appear.

A copy of yesterday's Madras High Court order, which modified certain conditions imposed by the special court, was furnished to the court today.

Mr. Vaiko was arrested, along with eight MDMK leaders, under POTA in 2002 July for a speech he made at Tirumangalam, near Madurai, in June that year. Mr. Vaiko has been in jail for 577 days. The High Court released the other leaders on bail on January 12.

One of the conditions for the grant of bail to Mr. Vaiko was that the ``petitioner shall forthwith deposit his passport with a memo in this court.'' After giving the undertaking, Mr. Vaiko's counsel informed the court that the passport was in either Chennai or New Delhi and would be submitted on Friday. As the passport was not filed today, the court could not take up processing of the bail application.

This morning the court took up the trial of the case with the defence counsel continuing cross-examination of a prosecution witness, Nagarajan, a shorthand writer, who had taken notes at the Tirumangalam meeting.

Complains of giddiness

After the court rose for lunch, Mr.Vaiko complained of giddiness and uneasiness. Mr. Vaiko suffered a blackout in the Vellore jail yesterday. The jail authorities advised Mr.Vaiko not to travel in view of his poor health, said G. Devadoss, defence counsel. But Mr. Vaiko told them that he wanted to attend the trial. In the court, Mr.Vaiko's physicians were at hand to attend on him.

On being informed of Mr.Vaiko's condition, the judge, L.Rajendran, said he could take rest and that the trial could proceed without him. Mr. Vaiko took rest on the court premises and left for Vellore later in the evening.

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