Diyawanna: Divine court or palace of duplicity?

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

An actor is behind bars because of his untamed tongue and as our Editor pointed out with a touch of sarcasm: “Going to jail is a heroic deed only in the celluloid world” (‘Ranjan behind bars’; The Island, 14 January). However, the drama unfolding following that episode in the Diyawanna Chamber beggar’s belief! Some of our lawmakers do not seem to understand how the laws they enact are translated into action by the judiciary. The actor committed contempt of court and received a four-year sentence by the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, precluding any reversal by an appeal. The only escape route apparently is a Presidential pardon, a matter that is supposed to have been discussed by the puppet with the master puppeteer, just in jest it is claimed!

According to a news item in ‘The Island’ on 21 January, SJB MP Harin Fernando told Parliament recently that he would wear a black shawl in the Chamber until Ranjan Ramanayake received justice and had stated “Unlike those who wear the kurahan sataka in the chamber to show their family power in Parliament, I will wear a black shawl in the Chamber seeking justice. I was shocked when we heard that he would be dragged like a dog similar to a terrorist leader for criticizing the high and mighty powers of this country”.

Ramanayake, whilst being a state Minister, came out of Temple Trees and made a statement to the effect that the majority of judges and lawyers in the country were corrupt. Two private plaints forced the hand of the Attorney General to file action against him in the Supreme Court and hearings started during the ill-fated Yahapalana regime. There is video evidence that on at least three occasions Ramanayake repeated this allegation while coming out of court, irrespective of what happened inside court. Is it not an absolute shame that MP Fernando sought to hide behind parliamentary privilege to insult the judiciary further? This attack on the judiciary has to be seen in the context of the damage done to the judiciary by other actions of Ramanayake, who allegedly leaked taped-conversations amply demonstrate how he tried to influence judgements and the admission of Ranil Wickremesinghe that the FCID that operated from Temple Trees was not legally constituted.

Another news item in the same edition of The Island bstates that the Chief Opposition Whip, Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament yesterday that MP Ramanayake had not criticised all members of the judiciary when he stated that some judges were corrupt. This makes matters even worse as it implies that the verdict of these three Supreme Court Judges was incorrect. Was it not one of the members of the Opposition that defended Ramanayake? If what Kiriella states is correct, one has to assume that either the defence counsel did not do his job properly or the judges completely disregarded facts as presented to Parliament by Kiriella. As it is very unlikely that he implied a bad defence one has to assume that he is blaming the judges. Just to support one of his colleagues, making insinuations against the judiciary is not what we expect from members of Parliament, especially one holding the position of Chief Opposition Whip.

These statements make one wonder whether these Members of Parliament are attempting to ‘elevate’ the Parliament to the status of a court above the Supreme Court: A Divine Court, perhaps!

Kiriella had gone on to say, “Ranjan Ramanayake’s sentence is a severe punishment and not proportionate to the offence he is said to have committed. For example, three months ago a judge in India levelled accusations against that country’s Chief Justice and said that the latter was corrupt. What was the punishment imposed on the former? He was fined one rupee. He declined to pay that rupee. Now, the matter has been postponed.”

It is interesting that Kiriella is quoting precedents from India, very conveniently overlooking what happened during their Yahapalana regime. If I remember right, there was jubilation when Ven Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera was jailed for six years for contempt of court. Certainly, these justice-seeking gentlemen did not utter a word, either inside or outside Parliament, when that harsh punishment was meted out to that monk.

I, for one, had been critical of the behaviour of this Thero and other members of BBS. In a piece titled ‘Men in Robes’ (The Island, 14 October 2014) I commented: “It is not indulging in politics that we should be concerned with; it is the disgraceful way they behave and the demeaning language they use. Can you imagine a person who is supposed to be following in the footsteps of the ‘Compassionate One’, leading an attack on a safe-house giving shelter to refugees? Don’t they understand Buddhists extend compassion to all living beings, even enemies?”

However, having felt that the sentence on Gnanasara Thera was too harsh I inquired from a relation of mine who is a retired judge of the Supreme Court. He agreed that the sentence was far too harsh and commented that he was not aware of such a long sentence for contempt of court anywhere in the world. Mind you, Gananasara Thera never repeated his allegations unlike Ramanayake who, therefore, may have got a longer sentence.

Those who did not make an issue of the unfairness of the punishment meted out to a Buddhist priest but are now speaking for a colleague who repeated the offence he had been charged with—making derogatory statements about the judiciary—only demonstrate their duplicity.