Dehiwela Police arrests 3 Tamil women under PTA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:22 GMT]
Dehiwela police arrested three Tamil women Wednesday midnight at their house in Vijayarama Mawatte in Kalubowila, Dehiwela, and has detained them at Dehiwela police station without stating the reason for the arrest, legal sources in Colombo said. Mano Ganeshan, Colombo District parliamentarian, contacted Dehiwela police regarding the arrests and was told that the three women have been arrested and held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Rangarajah Krishnaveni, 26, from Jaffna, Sebestian Kanishka, 17, Antony Reetamma, 33, both from Hatton work in Colombo, according to relatives.

The police had told Mano Ganeshan only after the interrogation the Police will decide if the women are to be released or not, sources close to the MP said.

The draconian PTA, introduced in 1979 as a temporary measure to contain violence, and made permanent in 1982, was not applied following the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

PTA was reinstated on 06 December 2006 by the Sri Lanka Govenrment.

Chronology: