A group of human rights activists from Coimbatore have decided to move a habeas corpus petition to challenge the detention of Salem student M. Valarmathi under the Goondas Act.
Calling the detention of a college student under the Act for no reasonable offence a shame on the government, the activists said that a series of similar police action has created the feel of an ‘undeclared emergency’ in the State.
It has become a practice for the police to arrest people who stand for a social cause, often portraying them as Maoists.Valarmathi was arrested with no sufficient grounds while she was distributing pamphlets opposing the hydrocarbon-methane projects and supporting farmers’ cause in Kadiramangalam village in Thanjavur district.
“Further, she was booked under the Goondas Act which must be invoked only for serious offences. We will challenge the detention order in the High Court at the earliest,” said Coimbatore-based advocate S. Balamurugan after visiting Valarmathi in Central Prison here on Tuesday.
Mr. Balamurugan said that detention under Goondas Act was increasing in Tamil Nadu and Valarmathi’s arrest showed the suppressive approach of the government against those who extend solidarity to the causes of farmers and minorities.
A first-year student of M.A. Journalism and Mass Communication, at Periyar University, Valarmathi along with her friend’s mother D. Jayanthi was arrested while distributing pamphlets to students. at Government Women’s College, Gorimedu on July 12. The pamphlets were printed under the banner Iyarkai Paadukappu Kuzhu.