A prominent Tamil activist has been arrested by the police in Sri Lanka on suspicion of harbouring a criminal.

Jeyakumari Balendran, who has been actively campaigning against political disappearances, was arrested along with her young daughter for harbouring a suspected criminal who shot and wounded a policeman recently.

According to the BBC, Balendran's teenage son was conscripted by the Tamil Tigers towards the end of the war and was reported to have surrendered to the Sri Lankan army, after which he disappeared in 2009.

The woman was also a leader of the demonstration that was staged to greet British Prime Minister David Cameron, when he visited Sri Lanka last year.

The police said that the mother-daughter duo was taken to the town of Vavuniya for a medical examination and from there Balendran would be produced before a magistrate in Kilinochchi.

Meanwhile, her 13 year old daughter will be released as soon as the authorities have located someone to look after her with her mother's permission.