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Lawyer roughed
up for pleading his cause If you have
forgotten the date it was three days after the last General Election.
Mr. Wijesinghe like many lawyers decided to support a political
party of his choice. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice, the Leader of the Opposition are all lawyers. Mr. Choksy and Mr. Marapana were leading senior counsel in their respective fields and mainly appeared in the Appellate Courts. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse and Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva were respected and much sought after lawyers in the original Courts. Many of the present leaders of our country would have started their careers supporting a political party and being in charge of political campaigns under various politicians. This incident
took place three days after the last General Election. There was
information that Mr. Wijesinghe's supporters were being kept at
the Aranayake Police Station on an allegation that they stole two
buses from the Mawanella CTB Depot. When Mr. Wijesinghe
went to the Aranayake Police Station and inquired from the OIC what
crime the suspects had committed, the OIC who was notorious for
offending people who were brought before him by abusing his authority,
told the lawyer that they were arrested on suspicion. Mr. Wijesinghe
then asked the OIC about the nature of the complaint and whether
the complaint was recorded. Then the lawyer strived to explain the legality of keeping a person in custody when no complaint had been recorded or received. Then something reminiscent of the dark past of 1989/1990 happened. The OIC seemed to be writhing in anger. He got up from his seat and said in Sinhala, "Who are you to teach me the law. In this place it is my law that matters". Then he took his pistol and pointed it at him and said, "Throw this fellow out". Then a Sub Inspector of Police came to the room with a pistol in his hand, squeezed the neck of Mr. Wijesinghe and shouted obscenities at him and held him by the neck and pushed him out of the office of the OIC. When he was pushed out of the OIC's room, a Police Sergeant came to Mr. Wijesinghe and hit him on the head and threw him out of the Police Station building. Then Mr. Wijesinghe wriggled out and got into his Jeep to get out of the premises. The Sub Inspector shouted and commanded his subordinates and told them not to permit anyone to get out of the gate. Mr. Wijesinghe was virtually kept a prisoner at the Police Station when two Army Officers who had come to the Police Station on some other business saw the sad predicament that has fallen upon Mr. Wijesinghe, and they virtually rescued him. On the same day Mr. Wijesinghe complained to the ASP and the OIC Warakapola Police Station who recorded his statement, issued a Police ticket to the Kegalle Base Hospital. Mr. Wijesinghe has written to the authorities and to the Secretary of his party and copied the letter to the Bar Association for necessary action. Nothing whatsoever has happened, and the OIC is carrying on famously at his Police Station. The predicament of the legal fraternity is such that no one seems to bother. Similarly, Mr. Keerthi Udawatta, an Attorney-at-Law practising in the Gangodawila Magistrate Courts was shot at. Though the shooting may have been politically motivated and the Gangodawila Bar Association condemned the attack and submitted a copy of a resolution adopted by them to the Bar Association and the IGP, no suspects have been arrested. Recently a doctor
on duty was assaulted by a kinsman of a patient. The GMOA struck
work until the man was arrested. After the man was arrested the
doctors demanded that stalls in the vicinity of the Hospital be
removed forthwith. Such is the power the GMOA wielded! |
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