AG directs Police to file 2 cases against Vijayakala

The Attorney General yesterday directed the Police Chief to file two cases against former State Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs Vijayakala Maheshwaran on two counts - violation of the Constitution and assisting the proscribed LTTE organisation through one of her speeches made in July this year in Jaffna.

Maheshwaran had made this speech at a Presidential mobile service (Janapathi Janatha Nila Mehewara) held at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffan on July 2, this year where she said “Under the present situation we need to resurrect the LTTE and the LTTES hand must be strengthened.”

The Attorney General had stated that her speech was an offence under section 120 of the Penal Code and she can be prosecuted on the charges of inciting people and attempting to do so. He had

pointed out that she could also be prosecuted under Article 157 (A) of the Constitution which says “No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka”

Legal experts say that if the former State minister was found guilty of these charges she could be subject to the deprivation of her civic rights for seven years and removal from the Parliament apart from confiscation of her assets.