NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
POTA judge L Rajendran extended the remand on the request of public prosecutor S Jayakumar.
Vaiko was arrested at Chennai airport on July 11 on his return from a US trip for his 'pro-LTTE' speech at Tirumangalam in Madurai district.
A judicial magistrate at Tirumangalam had remanded him to custody.
Vaiko told the court on Wednesday that the question of extension of remand did not arise as the detention itself was illegal.
He pointed out that according to the provisions of the POTA, only a sessions Judge could remand an accused in the absence of a designated court.
However, the public prosecutor said the designated court was not the place to raise the issue.
Objecting to the public prosecutor's request for extension of remand for the other detainees, their counsel Devadoss pointed out that the investigating officer had said they had visual and audio evidence containing the objectionable speeches by the accused and hence there was no need for further remand. There was no likelihood of tampering with the evidence as it was in police custody, he said.
Later, Vaiko was taken back to the Vellore prison and his party colleagues Veera Elavarasan and Bhoominathan to Salem jail, Alagu Sundaram and P S Manian (former MLA) to Tiruchirappalli prison and Ganesha Murthy (ex-MP) and Sivandiappan to Madurai jail.
The remaining two have been remanded to police custody.
Talking to media persons before being taken back to prison, Vaiko said POTA was enacted to foil the threat of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and other terrorist groups.
"I did defend POTA. It was unavoidable. In the NDA meeting I spoke in detail, and had expressed my reservations regarding certain provisions concerning the press and public meetings. But I did not speak on the bill in the Lok Sabha and in the joint session of the Parliament," he said.
Alleging that it was the Congress government in the past that had used the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for political vendetta, he said the NDA would not invoke the act for political purposes.
EARLIER REPORT Police want to search Vaiko's residences: PTI
More reports on the controversy surrounding Vaiko's arrest
Tell us what you think of this report