Editorial

20th September 1998

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Jackboots!

Two of our columnists Viruddha Paakshikaya and Mudliyar and the News Desk have grabbed much of the space of our issue this week to highlight the drama that is unfolding in the temple of justice, involving the high priests of the law.

Indeed the entire episode has the most dubious flavour to it. Is it a vendetta against those who dare oppose the government — a clear signal indeed that is being sent to the judiciary of this country? When put together with the open favours that are being endowed on those who play ball, then there would appear to be an unmistakable message - play ball or get out! And further, it seems like the trend in many quarters. Is it perhaps also something of a coincidence that the judge involved in this most recent fiasco is also a Mahanama?

Surely this sort of drama is not what the PA came into office to enact nor is it something the people elected it for. While we do not wish to venture into unknown terrain as to the merits or demerits of criminal actions hurriedly filed against the High Court Judge, the revelations in Viruddha Paakshikaya's column referring to a police communiqué to the IGP's Secretariat is an eye-opener to put it mildly. What kind of country is this where such things can happen?

Not only lawyers, but even judges and magistrates from all parts of the country are now throwing their weight behind High Court judge Mahanama Thilekeratne whose arrest is seen as an attack on the very foundations of the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

With the UNP or other opposition parties joining the Minister of Justice in maintaining a deafening silence over this attack on the independence and integrity of the judiciary, we are glad that lawyers have closed ranks and are being fully backed by judges in the campaign against police interference in the normal course of justice. We feel that fighting for what has often been the last bastion of individual freedom is always a worthy battle.

The Judicial Services Association comprising district judges and magistrates has requested the President and the Chief Justice to take tough action against police officers who are responsible for this attack on the judiciary. The police chief is reported to have submitted a full report to the president and we hope that the punishment given to the culprits, as stated in the JSA resolution would serve as a deterrent to any other jackboot who thinks he can ride roughshod over the fundamental rights guaranteed in our constitution.

As for the Judiciary we seek to offer no grand advice, except possibly to remind them that they are the last bastion of our freedoms, indeed the freedom of men and women throughout the world. They are ideally and should in reality be the upholders of every citizen's rights irrespective of political pressures or inducements in whatever form and above all should have the courage of their conviction to stand upto intimidation in any form or manner.

Yet for all that there's no medicine or cure for a judge who has not the spine to resist all such inducements, pressures or even intimidation. As one of the bravest and most eminent of our Chief Justices in modern times, Neville Samarakoon himself said, "No surgeon on earth can repair a judge's spine once he's lost it."

At best, the government has bungled the case of Judge Mahanama Thilekaratne. At worst, it is a case of naked thuggery by the State and its law enforcement agencies.

Political Column

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