Dindigul (Tamil Nadu), Mar. 2 : Kolathur Mani, the leader of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, was arrested on Monday for defending the LTTE for assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Mani was arrested in Salem for his speech at a public meeting here on February 26 for allegedly saying that "the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a right action".

The pro-LTTE group leader was detained for a second time for speaking in favor of LTTE in last three months.

Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), Mar 2 : Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader Vaiko and 184 others, who were arrested for showing black flags at External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week, were granted bail by a local court on Monday.

Judicial Magistrate I M N Kumar ordered their release after they furnished a personal surety of Rs 5,000 each.

Chennai, Mar. 2 : Activists fighting for Tamil victims of the Sri Lanka''s offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, tried to attack the office of the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai on Monday.

Shouting slogans against the Indian and Sri Lankan Governments, around 200 activists of the Tamil Eelam Freedom Federation rushed towards the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner''s office in Chennai.

Chennai, Mar 2 : Protesting Tamil Nadu lawyers are continuing with their boycott of the Madras High Court. Monday marked the eighth of their strike.

Several advocates are on hunger strike outside the high court premises here.

The lawyers are demanding immediate action against police officials who baton charged lawyers in the Madras High Court premises on February 19.

Some years ago I went on a trip to a southern district of Tamil Nadu with research in mind. At least that was what I told anyone who wanted to know why I was going there.

What I found was a different kind of definition for freedom.

At a little town by the ocean, where the waves could rise as high as the houses when the winds churned the waters, it seemed nothing could hold anyone back. The sea was your backyard and if anyone crowded in on you, the sea would help you flee.

But nothing had prepared me for what that little seaside town also showed me. A glimpse of a community caught in a time warp whose rules of purdah were almost medieval.

“What do you do with your time?” I asked one of the girls I met there.

The agitating lawyers of Tamil Nadu rejected the SC decision. “The Supreme Court decision is an eyewash, transferring officers is routine. We will not call off our protest till stringent action is taken against police officers involved in the assault,” they said. 

Leaders of lawyers’ associations are away in Delhi, where an SC bench comprising chief justice KG Balakrishnan and justices P Sathasivam and JM Panchal heard their petition on constituting an inquiry committee headed by a sitting judge.