Tense situation prevailed outside the Homagama Magistrate’s Court

A tense situation has arisen in front of the Homagama Magistrate’s Court as a group of about 200 monks have gathered there in protest over the diction to remand Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera.

Monks representing the BBS, Ravana Balaya, and Sinhala Ravaya have reportdely blocked the road near the court to prevent the prison bus from leaving the premises.

Several police teams and officers attached to the Police Anti Riot Squad have been summoned to the location. A vehicle equipped with water cannon has also arrived a short while ago, reports say.

The Homagama Magistrate’s Court today remanded Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera until 09 February. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera was arrested after he surrendered to the Homagama police, on Tuesday (26) morning.

A warrant had been issued for the arrest of Gnanasara Thera, yesterday, on the charges of allegedly threatening Sandhya Eknaligoda, the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, at the court premises

Sri Lanka Cricket launches Super T20 cricket

A million rupees awaits the winner of the inter-provincial Super Twenty20 tournament organized by Sri Lanka Cricket that begins at the R.Premadasa Stadium today. The tournament is being revived after a lapse of about 10 years.

Its main objective is to find out talented players to represent Sri Lanka at the international cricket arena and to develop the standard of domestic cricket in the country.

Five teams Colombo Commandos, Galle Rangers, Hambantota Troopers, Kandy Guardians and Kurunegala Crusaders will compete for total prize money worth Rs. 3.45 million with the winners taking away Rs. One million and runner-up Rs. 750,000 in addition to attractive individual prizes. A total of 60 players representing various clubs of the country are taking part.

Milinda Siriwardena, Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne and Mahela Udawatte will captain the respective teams.

The curtain raiser of the tournament will be between Colombo Commandos and Galle Rangers at 10 am today.

Prior to the commencement of the tournament a grand opening ceremony has been arranged with Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala declaring open the tournament by the release of balloons.

Two matches will be played each day, Morning Session and Evening Session. The Morning Session match will start at 10.00 am and the Evening Session at 2.00pm. In a match where play is delayed or interrupted, the hours of play shall be extended by 15 minutes in day games.

The final on February 5 will be played under lights commencing 7.00 pm.

A press conference to launch the tournament was held at the SLC headquarters yesterday with SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala, Vice President K.Mathivanan, CEO Ashley de Silva, Tournament Director Jayantha Paranathala and the captains of the five teams in attendance.

Seya Sadevmi murder Case to be heard daily

The hearing of the lawsuit with respect to the killing of Seya Sadevmi in Kotadeniyawa will be continued from yesterday. It was taken up in the presence of Negombo High Court Judge Champa Janaki Jayaratne. The Attorney General have filed four indictments against Saman Jayalalth, the chief suspect in the murder case.

Earlier, the Minuwangoda Magistrate was apprised that DNA samples found on Seya Sadevmi match Saman Jayalath. Seya Sadevmi was found strangled to death on September 13th last year while she was reported missing from her home at Kotadeniyawa in Divulapitiya on the previous day.

A schoolboy and a father of one child were initially apprehended but they were acquitted of the charges as their DNA reports did not match.

Witness in Embilipitiya case speaks

Anil Sanjeewa, who is said to be an eye witness of the incident in which Sumith Prasanna was killed during a clash with the police, appealed the IGP to hold an unbiased investigation into the case.

Sanjeewa claims that he heard a conversation between several police officers that occurred soon after Sumith Prasanna sustained life-threatening injuries during the clash.

“I was in the third floor. In fear of my life, I didn’t open the door of my shop. I heard women screaming and begging for help,” he added.

However, earlier police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told reporters that “When police officers were attempting to arrest the individuals behaving in a disruptive manner, one person jumped from the third floor of the building through glasses.”

The investigation into the Embilipitiya incident has been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) N.K. Illangakoon said earlier.

The clash involving a group of policemen and several civilians attending a function at a residence resulted in the death of the youth and injuries to several others. The Police Chief stated that the decision was taken based on the instructions of the Attorney General (AG).

HRW reacts to President's statement on foreign Judges

The Human Rights Watch has urged the Sri Lankan government to fulfill its commitments to the United Nations Human Rights Council by ensuring that foreign judges and prosecutors play a significant role in the mandated accountability mechanism for wartime abuses.

On January 21, 2016, President Maithripala Sirisena told the BBC, contrary to Sri Lanka‘s council commitments, that he will “never agree to international involvement,” saying “[w]e have more than enough specialists, experts and knowledgeable people in our country to solve our internal issues.

“The Sri Lankan government sought international involvement to ensure justice and accountability so there’s no excuse for backtracking now,” said Brad Adams, Asia director.

“President Sirisena needs to understand that international participation in a war crimes tribunal was not a vague promise to the UN but a firm commitment to the thousands of Sri Lankans who suffered during the country’s long civil war.”

President Sirisena’s statement comes just weeks before a scheduled visit to the country by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

The high commissioner’s office released a report detailing wartime abuses by both sides, calling for a “hybrid” justice mechanism given the shortcomings of domestic institutions to ensure impartial investigations and witness protection, and the Sri Lankan government’s failure to take meaningful accountability measures since the war ended in May 2009.

The 2015 Human Rights Council resolution affirms the importance of participation in a justice mechanism of “Commonwealth and other foreign judges … and authorized prosecutors and investigators.”

Sri Lanka tops South Asia in human development

Sri Lanka has maintained its high ranking in human development. But the country’s performance in terms of average annual human development index (HDI) growth rate during 1990-2014 was lower than many other South Asian countries.

These findings are among the highlights of the Global Human Development Report (HDR) 2015 released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) here on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has been placed at the 73rd rank with an HDI value of 0.757. In the previous year’s report, it occupied the 74th place. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, the country’s rank went up by five. The report, which studied a total of 188 countries and territories, has determined the HDI values by assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

According to the report that has been prepared on the basis of 2014 data, Sri Lanka has been placed at the 73rd rank with the HDI value of 0.757. In the previous year’s report, it occupied the 74th place. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, the country’s rank went up by five.

The report, which has studied a total of 188 countries and territories, has determined the HDI values by assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

According to the document, the region of South Asia includes Iran too, apart from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Maldives.

While Iran is ahead of Sri Lanka, standing at 69th rank, the Maldives is ranked 104th. India and Bhutan fall under the category of medium human development countries and Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan come under the group of low human development countries. India is placed at 130th rank and Pakistan, 147th. As for the growth rate during 1990-2014, South Asia’s figure was 1.38, the highest among all regions.

The UNDP took 1990 into account as it was from that year that the series of global HDI reports began. In the context of Sri Lanka, too, the year was significant as the Eelam War resumed in June 1990 after the withdrawal of the Indian Peacekeeping Force three months earlier.

Within the region of South Asia, Afghanistan tops the list with the value of 1.89 for 1990-2014 followed by Bangladesh (1.64), Nepal (1.49) and India (1.48). Sri Lanka’s score was 0.83.

Thangavel Palanivel, Chief Economist for Asia-Pacific, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, attributes this situation to the “size effect” and points out that countries traditionally enjoying higher economic and human development cannot grow much beyond a point. This was why Sri Lanka, which was better placed than many other countries in the region even in the 1970s and 1980s, posted lower growth rate during the 25-year-long period.

In 1990, Sri Lanka’s HDI value was 0.620 whereas the region’s figure was 0.437. In 2014, the region’s tally was 0.607. (The Hindu)

 2015 human development index (HDI)

Underage girl abducted by lesbian in Avissawella

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has appointed a committee to look into the recent incident in Avissawella involving two females being arrested by the Police on the grounds of their sexual orientation.

The Police are reported to have arrested the duo while at a bus stand on a tipoff of them being lesbians or in a lesbian relationship, received from three-wheel drivers nearby.

When queried about the status of the case involving the couple and what sort of legal representation they were presently receiving, President of the BASL, President's Counsel Geoffrey Alagaratnam said that he had yet to receive the report concerning the matter and would be able to comment about the matter today (25).

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) informed that they had done nothing yet pertaining to the matter.

Media Spokesman of the HRCSL, Human Rights Commissioner Saliya Peiris said that they had not received a complaint regarding the matter.

"We will have to look into the circumstances. We take certain major issues up on our own but elsewhere we have to receive a complaint," he added.

Police Media Spokesman, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ruwan Gunasekera said that one of the two females had been arrested on the offence of the abduction of an underage person, below the age of 16 years, without the permission of the parents.

"It is an offence under the Penal Code. They were not taken in under loitering. One female was 19-years-old while the other was 15 years and nine months. The underage female has started an affair with the older female. They were lesbians. Avissawella Police received information about them on 12 January after 11:00 p.m. and had subsequently arrested them. 

When checking, it was revealed that both were residents of Meerigama. They were then handed over to the Meerigama Police who produced them before the Attanagalla Magistrate. They were granted bail. The underage girl has been given to the parents. The case will next be taken up on 2 February," he mentioned.

Singapore Police released lankan politician

The Singapore Police on Wednesday concluded its finding on the CCTV video clip that Sri Lanka’s Central Provincial Councillor Manel Bandara had not committed an act of sexual harassment  in touching a Singaporean woman on her shoulder during a study tour, well informed sources revealed.

Bandara was taken into custody following a complaint to the police that the Councillor reportedly harassed her sexually while coming down a stairway at a hotel a fortnight ago.

The Councillor’s passport and travel documents were seized by the Singapore Police until investigations concluded. He was allowed to return to Sri Lanka last Thursday (21).

Bandara had told the Police that he patted her on her shoulder as a foreigner to say goodbye as a gesture of goodwill. He told Nation that the media had blown the incident out of proportion to display it as a ‘sex scandal’ or ‘sex abuse’. ‘I have asked the Media Minister to initiate an investigation into those media reports aimed at tarnishing my image’, he added.

The Police in Singapore viewed the CCTV video clip at length on Wednesday with software experts and concluded that the Councillor while parting at the end of the stairway had patted the woman on the shoulder to bid goodbye.

The video clip had provided evidence that both parties had been waving their hands while parting.

Asked whether he would file action against the woman for making a false complaint, Bandara asked ‘Why should I go all the way to Singapore to waste my money on a useless exercise?’