Court refuses bail for Tamil woman arrested for not registering

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 May 2007, 12:23 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Friday ordered further remand till May 17 for a Jaffna Tamil woman who has been charged for the failure to register her name with the Wellawatte Police. She was produced in court Friday after 21 days in remand. The court made the order responding to the objection of Terrorist Intelligence Department (TID) that she should be remanded until the investigation against her is completed, legal sources said.

Ms Balasubramaniam Wimala Indra of Jaffna came to Colombo and stayed with her relatives residing in Wellawatte waiting for travel documents to travel to Germany. During a cordon and search operation she was taken into custody when she failed to produce the registration of her presence in the area with the Wellawatte Police, Counsel E.Thambiah told court supporting her bail application.

Counsel further begged the court to release her as she was not involved in any terrorist activities and also she was not taken into custody as a terrorist suspect. She was arrested only for not registering her presence in the location with the police, legal sources said.

However, the TID objected her discharge or the release on bail.

Prosecuting police official told court that his department is waiting for an intelligence report clearing her involvement with terrorist activities.

The Chief Magistrate Ms Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene said in her order that the police had informed her orally and in writing that the woman is suspected to be involved with terrorist activity. Hence the court has no authority to discharge the suspect or to release her on bail at this stage, legal sources said.