The Mallakam Magistrate’s Court has remanded a nursing mother of a one-year-old child until April 29 following a complaint by independent Jaffna MP Dr Archchuna Ramanathan over a land dispute, even as the parliamentarian who allegedly brandished a firearm at residents during the same incident remains free.
The confrontation took place on Saturday, April 25, in the Periyavilan area within the Ilavalai Police Division, on a plot Ramanathan claims as ancestral property. The MP said he had entered the land to carry out clearing work when local residents confronted him, alleging encroachment, The Island reported citing Tamil Guardian.
Eyewitness accounts and widely circulated video footage show a heated altercation between Ramanathan and a group of residents that included several women. During the dispute the MP produced a handgun, reportedly issued by the Ministry of Defence for personal protection — an act that has drawn sharp criticism given the civilian nature of the disagreement and the absence of any other firearms at the scene.
Despite multiple individuals being present, only one resident — identified in court as the mother of a one-year-old — was arrested by Ilavalai Police after Ramanathan filed his complaint.
The arrest follows the parliamentarian’s own remand on April 27 by the same court under the Firearms Ordinance, after he attended Ilavalai Police Station to give a statement on charges of criminal intimidation. The Mallakam Magistrate’s Court had previously confirmed Ramanathan’s ownership of the plot in question, while a separate ownership case remains pending.
