By Shamindra Ferdinando
Police spokesman ASP F.U. Wootler said yesterday that the police legal division would most probably consult the Attorney General’s Department regarding the Gampaha Magistrate Bandula Gunarathna’s directive in respect of IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya.
ASP Wootler said so responding to The Island query yesterday (22) regarding the previous day’s court proceedings in the Gampaha Magistrate court.
The Gampaha Magistrate on Wednesday (21) directed the court registrar to forward case files in respect of the IGP to the President of the Court of Appeal to initiate contempt of court proceedings over the alleged failure to comply with court orders. Weerasooriya, who received the appointment as IGP in August last year is also an attorney-at-law.
Nalin Rohantha Abeysooriya, PC, serves as the President of the Court of Appeal. ASP Wootler, who is also an attorney-at-law, said that the legal division was in
the process of studying the case.
The Magistrate found fault with the IGP for disregarding a specific directive issued several months ago to issue a circular prohibiting law enforcement authorities from filing cases on false charges. The Magistrate rapped the IGP for issuing a circular by the area DIG dated 19 Oct., applicable to Gampaha, Kelaniya and Negombo police divisions disregarding his directive to issue a countrywide order.
The Magistrate ordered punitive measures against the IGP in the wake of three policemen and the police department being directed to pay Rs 200,000 in damages to Chamara Chathuranga Marasinghe after falsely accused him of drug possession in two separate cases by the Gampaha Anti-Corruption Unit.
Chairman of the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners attorney-at-law Senaka Perera told The Island that there had been numerous cases of police framing suspects. The courts have dealt with the issue on many occasions but the latest directive given by the Gampaha Magistrate proved that the police were continuing to pursue a disgraceful strategy. Perera said, adding that the issue had received significant public attention following the recent Negombo prison killings.
News
Chemmani archaeologists’ report questions clandestine grave claims
Published
1 hour ago
on
2026/10/23
Prof. Somadeva
The archaeologist leading the excavation of the alleged Chemmani mass grave has told a Jaffna court that the site more closely resembles “formal burial practices” than a clandestine grave. This has been revealed in an interim report submitted to Jaffna Magistrate Court on 19 Oct.
The report, “Forensic Archaeological Excavation in Chemmani, Jaffna (2025/2026): A summary report on findings”, has been written by Raj Somadeva, a professor at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology at the University of Kelaniya, and Anusha Wanninayake.
Its findings run to 17 pages. It records a minimum of 574 individuals, 51 separate accumulations of disarticulated bones and 170 artefact entries. By its own preliminary estimate, 41 per cent of the dead were children and 22 per cent were infants.
According to the report the evidence is “insufficient” for a definitive conclusion. It nonetheless underlines one sentence in its summary:
“Nevertheless, the artefacts and associated contextual evidence suggest that the site exhibits greater similarities to contexts characterised by formal burial practices than to clandestine burial sites documented in other parts of the world.”
It goes on to suggest that if the burials “resulted from an epidemic or another form of natural catastrophe”, a scarcity of objects buried with the dead “would not necessarily be unexpected”. It does not name any epidemic or disaster in Jaffna that could account for hundreds of deaths.
The Tamil Guardian
has reported that Dr. Somadeva’s report pays particular attention to two skeletons, numbered 227 and 429, found in a seated position. It said seated burial is “documented in certain Hindu religious traditions”, linked to the practices of Samādhi and Jīva Samādhi in which a spiritually accomplished person may be buried sitting upright, while adding that the posture alone does not establish such a connection.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has expressed serious concern over the recently gazetted the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill (“PSTB”) and followed by the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill (“OCB”).
Pointing out that both Bills have since been placed on the Order Paper of Parliament, the BASL has said both Bills have been presented as legislative reforms, individually and collectively, and they would confer extraordinary powers of arrest, detention and surveillance upon the Executive, curtail judicial oversight at the very stages when the protection of individual liberty is most critical, and create criminal liability with far-reaching implications for freedom of association, expression and movement.
The BASL has opposed the enactment of both Bills in their present form. For full statement please access island.lk 👇