JVP-led NPP calls for commission comprising Supreme Court judges to probe prison riot

By Saman Indrajith

The JVP-led NPP yesterday called on the government to appoint an impartial commission comprising Supreme Court judges to investigate the Mahara Prison riot.

NPP Leadership Committee Member Attorney-at-Law Lal Wijeanayake said: “We still have hope that there are judges who uphold the values of justice and truth.

Addressing the media at the JVP headquarters in Pelawatte, Wijenayake said: “More than five days have elapsed since the Mahara incidents, but so far no reports of any magisterial inquiry or post-mortems. In addition the ministers of the government are making contradictory statements about the incident. This is a serious situation.”

Wijenayake said that prison inmates too have human rights. Whenever a death of this nature occurs there should be a magisterial inquest as per the Section 371 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Similarly, as per the Section 373, a post mortem should be held. On the receipt of the post mortem report the Magistrate gives his ruling after an open hearing where the Magistrate is should call for evidence from police or relevant parties and in addition from the general public. If the Magistrate cannot come to a conclusion then he should return an open verdict. This is the due process. Without maintaining this due process, the government cannot absolve itself from this issue,” Wijenayake said.