Didn’t AG know of arrest warrant facts?

Minister Udaya Gammanpila has acknowledged in the media that he had harboured Kurunegala Mayor, Thusara Sanjeewa, for 35 days after an arrest warrant was issued against him by the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court, for destroying an antique building, a cognizable offence of serious nature. Finally, the Appeal Court issued a stay order against the arrest warrant, and he was free from arrest.

Meanwhile, AG issued an arrest order (not arrest warrant) against MP Rishard Badiudeen for misusing state funds in transporting displaced voters to polling booths in Mannar, his constituency, also a cognizable offence. Rishard who was defying arrest was captured from a hideout in Dehiwala. The people suspected of harbouring him, including a lady doctor, were arrested along with him.The two – Minister Gammanpila and MP Badiudeen – committed an offence of the same nature, but the way prosecution deals with them have raised many eyebrows among the people.In the first instance, the AG shouldn’t have directed the police to request an arrest warrant from the magistrate court to arrest Rishard. When the court rejected this request, most people read it as a confrontation between the AG’s department and the court. Didn’t the AG and police know a cognizable offence filed by way of B report needs no arrest warrant? The very stay order given by CA in the case of the Kurunegala Mayor was based on this. The petitioner had filed a writ of certiorari in CA seeking to quash the issuing and re-issuing of arrest warrant against him by Kurunagala magistrate, and had also sought a stay order. State Counsel argued that the petitioner should have sought revision, not a writ of certiorari, and argued among other things that a Magistrate can utilize section 124 of the Code to issue processes even in cases where the police can arrest without a warrant, and asked what prejudice was caused to the petitioner by this. Amidst all these arguments by State Counsel, CA took cognizance of the arrest warrant issued by the magistrate court and gave the stay order. Under these circumstances, why did AG and the police seek an arrest warrant from the Colombo Magistrate Court for Rishard’s arrest?

The second thing is what action the AG has taken against Minister Gammanpila for harbouring Thusara Sanjeewa for 35 days.

M. A. KALEEL 

Kalmunai – 5.