MDMK general secretary Vaiko appeared for Najil Sampath today at the Chennai high court and argued that Nanjil Sampath's detention order had been passed solely with the motive of preventing Sampath from involving in election propaganda. Nanjil Sampath, party's propaganda secretary  was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) for making an allegedly inflammatory speech in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. The problems of Tamils in Sri Lanka was expected to be one of the issues during the election campaign.

Ms Sasikala Sampath, wife of Nanjil Sampath filed a Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) in the Chennai high court challenging the detention of her husband and sought the court to direct the state government to release him immediately. The bench hearing the proceedings on the petition filed by Ms Sasikala Sampath , ruled against the detention under NSA and issued immediate release order.

Nanjil Sampath, a firebrand orator, has been a key propagandist for the MDMK. His detention arose out of a case registered under Sec 153(B) of the IPC (imputations or assertions prejudicial to national integration and Sec 13(1)(b) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

It was in connection with a speech he had made in Tirupur at a marriage hall on March 1 in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. He was arrested on March 7 at Tambaram. He was granted bail by a judicial magistrate, subject to stringent conditions on March 14. However, he was slapped with a detention order on the same day.

Sasikala in her petition said the detention order was based solely on a speech delivered by Sampath at a hall meeting. She also said vital documents that would have had a bearing on the decision to detain him under NSA had not been considered by the detaining authority. In that order, the magistrate had noted that the complaint against his speech might have been "misconceived" by taking a reference to Tamil Eelam' as a reference to Tamilagam' (Tamil Nadu).

Meanwhile, in a different occation on Tuesday, MDMK leader Vaiko said, India would face "dire consequences" if it did not come forward to stop the on-going offensive in Sri Lanka at least at this juncture when innocent Tamils are getting killed in Sri Lanka.

"The Tamils across the world are gravely concerned about the war in the island nation and it is high time the Centre should come forward and stop the war. Otherwise, the country will face dire consequences in the future", he said in a statement here on Tuesday.

He also urged the United Nations to take immediate steps by intervening directly to stop the war in Sri Lanka as it did in the case of Kosovo and East Timor.