High Court frees detained Sri Lankan

CHENNAI:  The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a Sri Lankan called Joseph Canute Sripalan Peeris, who was detained at the city airport for figuring in the Interpol’s wanted list a month ago, be set free after it deemed his detention as an unauthorised act of the Indian police.Delivering the order on a petition by Loudru Benilda Peeris, wife of the detained man and a native of Sri Lanka, a division bench observed that since the law does not authorise his detention he should be freed.According to the petitioner, the immigration authorities at Chennai Airport detained Sripalan Peeris on June 26 while he was seeking departure to Colombo, allegedly based on a lookout circular of the Interpol.Subsequently, he was produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Alandur, who in turn remanded him to judicial custody.Since the government of India had not received any request for provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition or any formal request for the extradition in respect of the detenu from the government of Sri Lanka, the court said the police action is not authorised by law.