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Youth activist behind #GoHomeGota Facebook campaign arrested and produced in Court
View(s):The Police yesterday confirmed that an activist behind a social media campaign on Facebook titled #GoHomeGota had been arrested.
Twenty-eight-year-old youth activist Anuruddha Bandara had been active in promoting the #GoHomeGota campaign on social media in the recent weeks. The slogan was used widely during recent civil protests.
He had been taken from his home in the early hours of yesterday allegedly by several people in civvies who claimed to be from the Modara Police. Thereafter, the Young Journalists’ Association wrote to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) pleading for assistance to trace the activist, noting that when they contacted the Modara Police Chief Inspector, he had denied that Mr. Bandara was in their custody.
However, the Modara Police later confirmed to HRCSL that the activist was in the custody of the Modara Crime Investigation Division. HRCSL officials visited the Police station to confirm he was being held.
The Modara Police said the activist would be charged under Section 120 of the Penal Code. He was allowed to meet with his lawyers last afternoon following the HRCSL’s intervention.
Section 120 reads: “Whoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs; or by visible representations, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the President or to the Government of the Republic, or excites or attempts to excite hatred to or contempt of the administration of justice, or excites or attempts to excite the People of Sri Lanka to procure, otherwise than by lawful means, the alteration of any matter by law established, or attempts 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, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.”
Issuing a statement last night, the Police Media Unit claimed that the activist was lawfully arrested at his residence by uniformed officers in the presence of his relatives and brought to the Modara Police station. He was produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court last night. The Colombo North Range Crime Investigation Division is conducting further investigations with assistance from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the statement added.
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