Plot thickens

Editorial-June 23, 2014

The police now tell us that Ven. Watareka Vijitha Theras claim
that he was abducted and assaulted by a group of persons in robes recently is false and his
injuries are self-inflicted. Legal action will be instituted against him when he leaves hospital
!olice "pokesman ""! #jith $ohana has told the media.
The onus is on the police to prove their allegations against the injured monk. What is of greater
interest than the !olice "pokesmans claim in our view is a statement attributed to a lawyer
retained by Ven. Vijitha Thera that he will not defend the monk if the allegations levelled by the
police are true.
%ne is intrigued. &ow will lawyers appearing for the monk know the veracity or otherwise of
the !olice "pokesmans claim until the court makes a decision thereon' (ntil such time they
will have to defend their client because he should be presumed innocent until proved guilty.
They cannot desert him even thereafter if he wants to appeal to a higher court in case of his
conviction.
Lawyers commit no offence when they defend offenders including dangerous criminals such as
mass murderers and drug barons. )n most cases they are fully aware that their clients have
really committed the crimes they are indicted for arent they' *lients usually confide
everything about their offences to their lawyers. )n fact it is to make lawyers utter falsehoods
in courts in their defence that criminals part with hefty sums of dosh. %ne is reminded of a
cynical observation +ickens makes about lawyers through ,rass in The %ld *uriosity "hop-
.)t is a pleasant world we live in "ir a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it /r.
$ichard but if there were no bad people there would be no good lawyers..
0ever mind much-maligned Ven. Vijitha Thera his injuries and his lawyers1 The police cannot
claim that the eye injury (0! /! !alitha Thewarapperumas suffered in #luthgama while
trying to help the victims of violence is self-inflicted. &e has accused the police of having
allowed thugs to attack him and some /uslims he was trying to remove to safety. This is a very
serious allegation made by an %pposition parliamentarian.
/! Thewarapperuma has called upon the )2! to take the responsibility for the incident and
resign. That will never happen. )2!s resign in this country only to be posted as ambassadors1
3We dont know whether the incumbent police chief has any 4ambassadorial ambitions.5
What action will the police take as regards /! Thewarapperumas complaint'
#fter letting horse bolt
The police are true to form busy closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. They have
decided to ban rallies and processions aimed at inciting communal hatred. Laws prohibiting
such events have been there all these years and they have also been enforced selectively to
scuttle anti-government rallies. The police go running to courts and obtain orders to prevent
students and workers protests. The 6uestion the police must be made to answer is why they
did not resort to legal action to stop the ,odu ,ala "ena 3,,"5 rally which triggered recent
communal clashes in #lutgama.
)t is not only the ,," which has taken the law into its own hands7 there have been instances
where the ruling party politicians and their goons stormed kovils purportedly to stop animal
sacrifices. /inister /ervyn "ilva with a mob invaded the ,adrakali temple in *hilaw on two
occasions. %ne has a right to oppose animal slaughter but ones protests should be within the
confines of the law. /inister "ilva got away with his offence as usual.
Two years ago a violent mob descended on the residence of a person who claimed to have
attained ,uddhahood. There have been many such attacks on prayer houses of other faiths as
well. )n almost all cases attackers including ,," activists went scot free thanks to deplorable
leniency on the part of the police. )t is this culture of impunity which helped the ,," become a
law unto itself.
The proposed ban must be implemented strictly and no room left for bigots to indulge in
violence. We however hope that it wont be abused to suppress political dissent.