Wigneswaran says his letter was twisted

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran was in a for a shock this week after he saw Indian media reports which said that he had sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release three persons who have been convicted in cases of rape and murder in India.

The reports said the Chief Minister had requested the Indian Premier to release three life convicts in the sensational Swamy Premananda case in 1994. However, all that Chief Minister Wigneswaran had done was to forward an appeal he had received from the family members of the convicts to the Indian Premier.

In this case three Sri Lankans -Kamalananda, Balan alias Balendiran and Sathis alias Sathishkumar -- were convicted and sentenced along with Premananda for raping 13 girls, including minors, and conspiring to murder an inmate in the godman's ashram near Trichy.

They were sentenced to double life imprisonment, and the punishment was upheld by the Indian Supreme Court in 2005. While Premananda died in Cuddalore prison in 2011, the other three are now in the Puzhal jail in Chennai.

The Chief Minister had forwarded an appeal by the family members to the Indian Premier. The Chief Minister in his letter said;

'I have been sent the following documents by K. Sivathy, daughter of convict 4220 by email and post. I am aware of their plight. Since this girl's father and mother hail from our province I take the liberty of forwarding the said documents for your kind consideration. Mr. Ram Jethmalani who is known to me is fully aware of the false case filed'.

The Indian media have said senior officials expressed surprise and shock over Mr. Wigneswaran questioning the Indian judicial system. And -- the Chief Minister as everyone knows is a former Supreme Court judge of Sri Lanka.