AG seeks arrest warrant against Judge Pilapitiya

Appearing for the Attorney General (AG), Senior Deputy Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundera yesterday requested the Nugegoda Magistrate to issue an arrest warrant against interdicted judge Gihan Pilapitiya invoking the powers of the AG vested under Section 393 of the Criminal Procedure Code to institute criminal proceedings on his own where it appears to be a difficulty.

The SDSG drew the magistrate’s attention on Section 136 (1) (c) of CPC as it provided provision for the AG to institute proceedings in a magistrate’s court by invoking the knowledge or suspicion of a magistrate over a matter. Hence, the SDSG submitted extracts of the investigation and attempted to satisfy the magistrate to institute proceedings.

It was also said that the charge against judge Pilapitiya – Section 190 of the Penal Code (fabricating evidence) – was in fact an offence upon which a person could not be arrested without obtaining a warrant from a magistrate’s court. Thus, the SDSG requested court to issue a warrant against the judge.

On several occasions, the AG had instructed the AIGP to obtain a warrant against judge Pilapitiya and MP Ranjan Ramanayake based on the offences that transpired after a leaked phone conversation between them.

However, the police did not take any action complying with the AG to obtain a warrant against judge Pilapitiya. After a series of letters exchanged between the AG and AIGP, they ended up in a dispute on the matter. Subsequently, the AG had invoked his powers vested under CPC to obtain a warrant without the police.