There were headlines about an alleged robbery and the main suspect being harboured by the lady lawyer. The claim that a lawyer was protecting a suspect was indeed newsworthy and could be sold to a scandal hungry public at large with ease.

After the media blitz on the lady lawyer became stale, the culprits launched themselves on another adventure.

E.M. George, of the Avissawella Bar met the suspect and took instructions from him as he wanted to surrender him to the Magistrate Court. He came to meet George with another lawyer from the Ratnapura Bar. The suspect also brought an affidavit stating that his life was in danger and feared that he would be tortured and confessions extracted by the Police.

The only avenue of liberation open to the suspect was to place his faith in the administration of justice. His only salvation lay in surrendering himself to Court and getting himself remanded. On this fateful day Mr. George after finishing his work in the morning drove the accused in a hired vehicle to the Ratnapura Magistrate Court. He was armed with a motion to Court to requesting that the case be called.

Usual procedure is to file the motion in the morning giving the name of the suspect to be surrendered in the motion so that it could be properly minuted by the Court Clerk to be called in open Court. The lawyer was informed by his colleagues in the Ratnapura Bar that it would be a dangerous ploy to submit the motion to Court in the morning as then someone interested in the proceedings would inform the complainant, a powerful conglomerate, that the suspect is due to be produced in the course of the day.

But unfortunately another leading lawyer from the Ratnapura Bar, a former Member of Parliament for Kalawana, D.M. Seneviratne, had filed a motion to surrender another suspect to Court. A man who was watching the proceedings immediately informed the Police and the complainants that there was a likelihood that the main suspect would be produced in Court.

The Police waited in ambush till the accused arrived. They saw a van stopping in front of the Ratnapura Magistrate Court gate. Normally the gate remains closed to prevent outsiders from bringing their vehicles to the Court premises. There are two security guards at the gate. The moment Mr. George beckoned the security guard to open the gate stating that he was an Attorney-at-Law, the security guards opened the gate and the driver drove the vehicle in. Then someone appeared and stood in front of the vehicle preventing it from being driven to the Court premises. As the driver opened the door to find out the reason for this unusual intrusion, one of the gangsters opened the other door of the van and pulled the suspect out of the van and started assaulting him in the presence of everyone there.

Mr. George got down and ran towards the Police officers on duty and pleaded with them to come to his rescue. He stated that his only mission was to surrender the suspect to Court but the Police officer came running towards the vehicle and saw another person in civvies joining the fray and kicking and beating the accused.

The man who joined in was a well built person who looked liked a Police Officer. He opened the door and entered the vehicles from the driver's seat and promptly reversed the vehicle in order to show that the vehicle was outside the Court premises. Thereafter a brand new Mercedes Benz car arrived and the person who reversed the car pulled the suspect into the Benz and drove the suspect to the Ratnapura Police Station.

Mr. George was utterly helpless. He ran to the Magistrate's Court and found the Court adjourned. He then met Acting Magistrate in his chambers with other members of the Ratnapura Bar. The Magistrate immediately telephoned the HQI of Ratnapura Police and ordered him to produce the accused forthwith as he has been abducted from the custody of lawyer E. M. George. The Police acquiesced, but completely ignoring the directions of the Magistrate. Later the Police agreed to produce the suspect at 2 in the afternoon which was also recorded by the Magistrate. In the mean time the police officers who acted like duty minded people made notes in the IBs to the effect that they were at various places including attending a conference at the IGP's office in Colombo. So a perfect alibi was recorded. Yet they were not sure as to what kind of turn this episode would take.

The think tank met at various places including the houses of gem merchants. They had to find a way out. Already the lady lawyer had been targeted by them through the media as the person who harboured the suspect. Her husband was the Leader of the Opposition in the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council and had been targeted by some members of the same political party to which he belongs to discredit him. As this was a gem robbery several gem merchants formed a cartel to protect the Police from any action that may be instituted against them.

After the arrest of the suspect and the recording of his statement and the statement of his mistress all the gems were recovered. The Police were elated with the success of their investigations resulting in the recovery of gems. Then in their excitement they released a press bulletin and showed the gems over a private TV channel.

To escape any action being taken for the violation of any court order and the abduction of a suspect in the Court premises the think tank came out with an absolute gem of a story. They got the suspect and his mistress to state under duress and alleged torture that the most expensive stone in the collection of gems was taken by the lady lawyer.

This statement of the suspect was corroborated by his mistress who said that she heard from the suspect that the gem was taken by the lady lawyer. This was in spite of the fact that the lady lawyer had taken an advance of the fee quoted by her from the suspect but refused to take any further steps until the balance was paid. The balance money which was agreed upon has been paid.

The statement of the accused was tendered to Court as a confidential report. The whole scenario shifted from the abduction which was a contempt of the Magistrate Court and directly infringed on the rights of the lawyer to practice his profession, to the lady lawyer.

The media blitz started again. Once again there were stories of how the gem was taken by the lady lawyer and that she could be charged in court making the suspect and his mistress state witnesses.

On the next date, the case took a dramatic turn when a team of fifteen lawyers from Colombo Magistrate Court proceeded to Ratnapura and met the secretary of the Ratnapura Bar and appeared on behalf of the two lawyers - the complainant and the witness. At that time they were able to get some information that the Police would complete the fabrication and seal the fate of the lady lawyer by getting a witness from Colombo to testify that the gem was sold to him by her and that the money was given to her husband.

Before they went to Court police informed Mr. George to come to Court ready to testify if necessary. The first thing Mr. George noticed was the man who was seated behind the Bar table in Police uniform was none other than the man who got into the vehicle and reversed it and later abducted the suspect from his custody. The counsel who appeared for the two lawyers made lengthy submissions and the Court agreed to record the statement of Mr. George and other witnesses available so that the proceedings could be forwarded to the Court of Appeal to establish whether there had been a violation of the Court by the actions of the Police.

It was only a few months ago that the Mawanella Bar faced a similar situation. A client of Nimal Jayasinghe, Attorney-at-Law, was abducted from the Court premises and so far nothing seems to have happened. Even in that incident there was a contempt of the authority of the Court. If the Ratnapura incident is taken as a personal problem between a lawyer and the Police it would pave the way for extremely dangerous trends. The suspect will readily agree to make confessions to the Police and declare that the money they pay as fees to a lawyer are part of the loot and if money could not be recovered the Police would take household effects and other valuable goods and produce them in Court as productions. Lawyers practicing in the original courts would dare not appear on behalf of any suspect before they are arrested and produced in Court by the Police. Surrendering suspects to the Police Station, and anticipatory bail would be things confined to the Statute Book.

By the united and prompt action taken by the Ratnapura and the Colombo Magistrate Court Lawyers the reputation and the prestige of the Bar were kept in tact In this regard a special tribute must be paid to the role paid by M.A. Justin, Secretary of the Ratnapura Bar. Though he was just out of hospital he was relentless in the pursuit of justice. "What can we do" was not the answer. But what can't we do to fight injustice should be the motto. The two episodes at Mawnella and Ratnapura involving the police abducting suspects from the custody of the lawyers were resolved differently. At Ratnapura prestige and honour of the Bar had remained in tact due to the prompt and expeditious action taken. But what can we say about Mawanella?

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