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Supreme Court suspends lawyer for insulting Ikram Mohamed
A junior lawyer who drenched his one-time senior and President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Ikram Mohamed PC with milk was this week suspended for four years from practising by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva.

The Supreme Court issued a Rule against the young lawyer, M.R.M. Fazeen from Kahatowita after he was found guilty of having insulted Mr. Mohamed by throwing a packet of milk on his face at the Law Library in Colombo. The incident occurred on October 9, 2002.

Mr. Mohamed had alleged that the conduct of Mr. Fazeen was not only unethical, reprehensible and unbecoming but also extremely "dangerous" to the safety of the Members of the Bar. The matter came up before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justices Shiranee Tilakawardane and Raja Fernando.

Counsel for Mr. Mohamed had said that though Mr. Fazeen was willing to apologise, the matter cannot be treated leniently. He said when the court called for an explanation, Mr. Fazeen had accused Mr. Ikram Mohamed of having sworn a false affidavit, and that Mr. Mohamed should be dealt with for perjury.

In his affidavit, Mr. Ikram Mohamed states that he was "shocked, insulted and humiliated by this assault " and argued that Mr. Fazeen had "committed assault as well as criminal force" by throwing milk at him.

Mr. Shanki Parathalingam PC, Mr. J.E.P. Deraniyagala PC, Mr. Harsha Amarasekera and Mr. Ali Sabri Attorneys-at-Law had been eye-witnesses to this "assault".

Mr. Fazeen in reply to the complaint, said that the affidavit of Mr. Mohamed had been drafted with a mala fida intention to bring disrepute to his character and tarnish his image as a lawyer. He stated that he had once questioned the appointment of the late Minister M.H.M. Ashraff as a President's Counsel saying that there were other deserving lawyers who should have been appointed instead. This had a "direct impact" on Mr. Ikram Mohamed being appointed a President's Counsel, he added.

Mrs. A.C.S. Devapura, Counsel for Mr. Fazeen submitted that her client was a junior member of the profession, had acted through emotion and was accepting the charge.

Mr. Romesh de Silva PC., appeared with Ms. Anoma Gunatilleke, G.G. Arulpragasam and Sugath Caldera for the Bar Association (BASL). Senior State Counsel Parinda Ranasinghe appeared for the Attorney General who endorsed the submission made by Mr. de Silva PC.

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