CA dismisses writ petition against Prov. Councillors

The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed a Writ petition seeking the Court to issue an order to the IGP and the AG to take all necessary measures to enforce the provisions of the Penal Code against the Provincial Councillors of the Northern and Eastern Provincial Council who are signatories to the letter addressed to the UN Human Rights Commissioner.

While dismissing the writ petition, the bench comprising Justices Vijith K. Malalgoda (President) and A.H.M.D. Nawaz observed that the petition had not come up with a proper forum and advised the petitioner to lodge a complaint before an officer-in-charge of a relevant police station over the alleged incident. The Court further observed the petitioner could come up before Court, if police were inactive to take necessary action over the matter.

Deputy Solicitor General Priyantha Navana appearing for the Attorney General told court that the AG could not intervene into the matter since there wass no proper complaint against the respondents.

Counsel Darshan Weerasekara appearing for the petitioner said he In the letter the Provincial Councillors request Navaneetham Pillay to acquaint her successor as well as the investigating panel presently investigating in Sri Lanka. would make a proper complaint to an OIC of a police station, but affirmed that he had already sent a letter to the IGP regarding the incident.

Petitioner P.G. Ravindra Niroshan of Nugegoda cited the IGP and the AG as well as the 33 Provincial Councillors as respondents. The petitioner stated the said Provincial Councillors were signatories to a letter sent to the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navineetham Pillay titled “Joint letter by members of the Northern and Eastern Provincial Council, 17 August 2014.”

He contends the said letter contains explicit statements capable of causing disharmony, ill-feeling and discord among the different ethnic groups of Sri Lanka, particularly the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

He maintains the letter makes three requests to the High Commissioner, the second of which reads, “The Tamil people strongly believe that they have been, and continued to be subjected to genocide by Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred in groups, their temples and churches were bombed, and their iconic Jaffna Public Library was burnt down in 1981 with its collection of the largest and oldest priceless irreparable Tamil manuscripts. Systematic Sinhalese settlements and demographic changes with the intent to destroy the Tamil Nation, are taking place. We request the HCHR investigative team to look into the pattern of all the atrocities against the Tamil people and to determine if genocide has taken place.”

He maintains the above two assertions are demonstrably false and the false accusations regarding highly sensitive issues, made directly to the High Commissioner urging her to investigate the purported offences, constitute an attempt to “raise discontent or disaffection amongst the people of Sri Lanka, or to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of such people.”