SINGAPORE, Mar 29: Singapore has called “entirely untrue” the remarks of a lawyer that the rights of Tamils were violated after the Little India riots, the country’s worst violence in 40 years.
Human rights lawyer M Ravi reportedly said that the Singapore Government violated the rights of Tamil people and “innocent helpless workers are still under custody without any evidence”.
Ravi’s remarks were published in The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
An Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) spokesman retorted saying “these statements are entirely untrue and highly inappropriate, given that Mr Ravi is currently representing persons charged with offences involved in the riot,” The Straits Times reported today.
Ravi has also reportedly called on the Tamil Nadu Government to intervene on behalf of all the workers who were either charged or repatriated because of the involvement in the riot.
The rights lawyer is representing six of the accused involved in rioting on December 8 last year at Little India, a precinct of South Asian businesses.
Ravi yesterday told the Singapore daily it was appropriate to set out his clients’ position in the Indian press, as the authorities here had “already conducted a trial-by-media”.
“There’s an attempt by the State and state media to tarnish the image of these Indian workers I represent, and attack the innocence of all the (repatriated) workers,” said Ravi.
“What can be more appropriate than to counter these allegations and to set the record straight in the India media, where all my clients originate from?” he added.
The AGC said the Government took a “calibrated approach” in charging 25 people with rioting and repatriating 57 people after issuing them with stern warnings. Another 213 people were issued police advisories.
Some 400 migrant workers were allegedly involved in the riots, that left 49 police and Home Team officers injured and damaged 23 emergency vehicles, sparked by the death of an Indian national.
To date, five of the accused men have been jailed after pleading guilty to amended charges. Criminal cases of the remaining 20 men are underway.
Singapore previously witnessed violence of such scale during race riots in 1969. (AGENCIES)
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