Inching towards lynching

As confidence in the law and order machinery erodes, society may descend to anarchy

By Feizal Samath

Apart from facing angry and hostile public protestors at courthouses across the country, lawyers appearing for the accused are also being intimidated by telephone threats from unknown persons.

Some lawyers say fewer high-profile lawyers are appearing in trial-at-bar cases or highly-publicised trials, probably to avoid unnecessary attention or possible threats. "It is mostly junior or not well-known lawyers who are appearing in these cases. This may be a signal that senior counsel are reluctant to appear because of threats and intimidation," said one lawyer. "It is not a healthy situation."

"The whole issue is getting out of control. Mass murderers have a right to be defended in a court of law," argues lawyer Angelo Benedict, who believes the present wave of agitation could lead to violence. Benedict has represented underworld bosses in some recent cases and become a target of some protests.

Some sociologists fear that as frustration and apathy over the justice system rises, there could be an eruption of social justice gangs.

"With the public having no faith in the system, people may resort to their own "an eye for an eye" way of seeking justice and go after criminals themselves. That could lead to anarchy," one sociologist, who declined to be named, warned.

Courthouse protests and demonstrations against lawyers appearing for those accused of violence particularly against women and children have increased in recent times and prompted even judges to draw attention to the crisis.

Justice P. Edirisooriya, President of the Court of Appeal, told the annual convocation of the Bar Association held on March 25 that public protests and attacks against lawyers should be condemned.

"We are not insensitive to the sufferings of victims of crime ... any kind of crime, but the situation is getting out of hand and lawyers are becoming targets for doing their job," said a worried Upali Goonaratne, President of the Bar Association.

Human rights activists and victims have a different story. A public debate - over the right of defence for accused persons - is also hotting up as scepticism over whether the perpetrators would get their due in court, grows.

"The public is losing faith in the system because it does not bring them justice. They are helpless," argues Nimalka Fernando, a human rights activist.

Citing one case, she said some suspects detained in the murder and rape of a 12-year-old girl at Buttala in the Moneragala district some weeks ago were released as the magistrate said there was no evidence to keep them in custody.

"Where does that place the parents of the child? What justice do they have against those who killed their daughter?" asked Ms. Fernando who is also President of the Tokyo-based International Movement Against Discrimination and Racism (IMADR).

Women in the area demonstrated in the Buttala courthouse against lawyers appearing for the suspects. "As a rights activist, I support these demonstrations," she added.

According to the latest available police figures, more than 400 children were raped in the period January to September last year, up from 271 cases when compared to the same period in 1998.

Two hundred more cases of grave sexual abuse, sexual harassment and unnatural offences were directed against children during this period last year. The incidents of violence against children in the January-September period last year totalled 4,100. 

According to the Police Bureau for the Protection of Women and Children, 307 women were raped in the January-September period last year, up from 221 in 1998.

Two years ago when a newly-married Indian woman, who was honeymooning in Sri Lanka was brutally raped and murdered, women took to the streets demanding justice for the victim and protection against rapists.

When the alleged rapists and killers were found and tried, women carried placards in the courts demanding that lawyers should not represent the accused. Some lawyers too, shocked by the killings, also demanded that their colleagues should not defend rapists.

Justice was however swift in that case with the rapists being quickly charged and convicted in a highly publicized trial. But most people say this kind of efficiency shown by legal authorities is lacking in other low-profile cases.

When a boy, Sadeepa Lakshan, was brutally killed by some other youngsters in Beruwala last year, people in the area marched in the town and outside the courthouse where the suspects were produced. Protestors threw stones at the car of the lawyer appearing for the accused and tried to manhandle him as he was escorted into the courthouse.

There were also scuffles as police stopped demonstrators entering the premises and the victim's father had to calm down the agitated protestors, many of whom were mothers.

Professor Siripala Hettige, Dean of the Arts Faculty of the University of Colombo and respected sociologist, believes that part of the problem is due to what he calls "the gap between precept and practice" which leaves the public disillusioned and compels people to take the law into their own hands. "The established professions like lawyers, doctors, judges etc are not doing what they are supposed to do," he said adding that society has become vicious and corrupt.

Politicians are corrupt; litigants are at the mercy of lawyers; doctors are more concerned about money than caring for patients and government officials don't care two- hoots for a public they are supposed to serve, he said.

"In the absence of proper checks and balances, people are at the mercy of professionals and are compelled to look at other ways of seeking justice," he added.

He says Sri Lanka is going through a phase he calls "subversion from within" where professionals are not doing what they are expected to do, resulting in a frustrated and desperate public.

The government, mindful of the problem, has tightened laws, increased punishment against murderers and rapists and made bail conditions more difficult, but that has not stemmed the tide.

Justice Minister G. L. Peiris, at a media workshop on crime reporting earlier this month, attributed the crime rate to a number of reasons including a proliferation of arms and automatic weapons due to the ethnic conflict.

Apart from this, police and the armed forces are compelled to pay less attention to criminal activity as most state resources are directed towards tackling the Tiger campaign since 1983. In fact most of the robberies and killings have been attributed to army deserters who have fled the forces carrying their weapons with them. 

Bar Association President Goonaratne says it is important for people to understand that protests against lawyers could only be counterproductive in seeking justice against criminals.

"If lawyers are prevented from appearing for the accused, the accused may be freed on the grounds that he did not receive proper representation and then the victims and their families won't get justice," he added.

Mr. Goonaratne says weaknesses in the law and the system of justice should be remedied instead of attacking one part of the legal process. "I agree we need to cut down on laws-delays and expedite trials but we can't penalize people without a proper trial," he noted. Some lawyers like Saliya Peiris, who is appearing for the suspects in the Chemmani case, believe that more deterrent punishment like the death penalty for murderers on conviction would soothe public concern against the system.

"If the death penalty is brought back as promised it would convince people that the justice system is just and equitable," he said, stressing however that the accused had a right to be defended and lawyers were doing a job.

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