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Minister JJ's son and four others face charges
Minister Jayalath Jayawardene's son and four others have been formally charged in courts in connection with an assault on a police officer who prevented them from writing on the wall of a leading Colombo girls school.

Police Headquarters said yesterday the five youths -- Kavinda Seshan Jayawardena, Sashi Prabath Wathkumbura, Sunil Shantha Silva, Nishantha Kumara de Silva and Manzoor Asgar Ali -- had been charged with unlawful assembly, obstructing the duties of a police officer and voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty. They would be produced before the Hulftsdorp magistrate soon.

The penalty for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty is a maximum of three years imprisonment and a fine, or both while for being a member of an unlawful assembly a term of six months imprisonment could be imposed. For obstructing a public servant in discharging his public functions a jail term of up to three months could be imposed.

Though Police have filed action, doubts have been raised as to why the police legal division was not consulted. The police legal division should be consulted if a police officer is involved in a case.

The Cinnamon Gardens Police had earlier said the matter had been settled after the minister's son apologised to the injured Reserve police constable H.M.R.S. Bandara who was on duty near St. Bridget's Convent on July 24 when the youths allegedly sprayed obscene words on the convent wall.

Soon after the incident was highlighted in the media, Minister Jayawardene told The Sunday Times he would not interfere with the investigations and allow the police to do their duty.

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