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Written by Arun Janardhanan | Chennai | Posted: October 31, 2014 1:34 am

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw 213 cases against anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) activists, around five months after the Supreme Court issued a similar order to the state.

The state government clarified in the court that it has already informed authorities concerned to withdraw the cases. The HC directive came on a complaint that the government failed to complete the procedure to withdraw cases and it did not inform the local magistrates of the decision even five months after the apex court’s order.

A Tirunelveli youth had approached the Madurai bench of the High Court, claiming that he was denied a passport as “false charges” still exist against him.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Tamil Nadu government had told the SC that it would withdraw 248 of the 349 cases against those who participated in anti-KNPP protests. Though the AIADMK government was responding to the SC on complaints of false cases, it appeared to be an attempt to woo the fishermen community from southern coastal belt ahead of the polls.

However, later the state dropped only 213 cases, saying that it needed legal opinion to withdraw other cases.

– See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/drop-cases-against-anti-nuclear-activists-orders-madras-hc/#sthash.I3FxsmOg.dpuf