Book seller fined for promoting pornography

A bookshop owner who pleaded guilty of selling a book containing pornographic material to a police officer who acted as a decoy at a bookshop in Kollupitiya was ordered to pay a fine of Rs.2500 by the Colombo Fort Magistrate yesterday.

The accused Lorenz Bernard Ranjith of Piliyandala was arrested by Kollupitiya Police while he was trying to sell the book containing obscene pictures for a price of Rs.3000. Kollupitiya Police informed Court that the book concerned had been published in English and consisted of 292 pages. When the accused was produced before Magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne he pleaded guilty to the charge and was ordered to pay a fine of Rs.2500. Police alleged the accused had committed a punishable offence which comes under section 2 (1) of the Obscene Publications Act No 22 of 1983. Sergeant Ussapitiya of Kollupitiya police prosecuted.