Get It Right Now Or Pay The Price

By M.A. Sumanthiran -March 24, 2015

M.A. Sumanthiran MP

Mr. Deputy Chairman of Committees, as I rise to speak on this Order that has been placed for approval, I cannot but recollect the time when the Hon. Minister of Justice and Labour Relations himself, seated on this side, opposed the extension of this Order when it came up two years ago. In fact, that Order had lapsed before it came up for extension and it was he, who pointed out to the House, that that Order could not be extended because it had lapsed and the Order had to be remade and that is why a bill had to be brought again, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Special Provisions) Act, No. 2 of 2013. The original Act having lapsed, the Hon. Minister, the person who pointed it out rightly at that time from the Opposition Benches, today is propounding the extension of this illogical and draconian provision. This is another one of those ironies that we are faced with of a Government that was established for good governance.

Twenty four hours time is the limit before which, under ordinary laws, a person must be produced before a magistrate, only to be produced before a magistrate. If he is suspected to have committed an offence that is non-bailable, as it is called, then the magistrate would remand the person, certainly at least for the first 15 days and thereafter, take over the directions of the investigations and under Section 115 of the Criminal Procedure Code, I believe, a magistrate would direct the investigations. That is the safeguard that our country is used to. The Hon. Minister himself said that merely extending it from 24 hours to 48 hours is not going to aid the investigation to be completed within 48 hours; nobody expects the investigations to be completed by 48 hours. If that be the case, what is the necessity for a person to be retained in the custody of the police when we have so much of evidence of abuse by the police of persons who are in their custody? ThePrevention of Terrorism Act has an exceptional provision to the ordinary law, Section 25 of the Evidence Ordinance, that a confession made to a police officer maybe admissible in evidence if it is made to a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police and subject to an inquiry by court if its voluntariness is challenged. That has been pronounced as a draconian provision and we know how that particular provision has actually impeded good investigations. Today, we have people convicted of offences purely on their supposed confession extracted through torture by the police whilst the actual offenders are, at large, roaming the streets. That is what the PTA resulted in. I think this maybe an opportune moment for me to urge the Government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The Hon. Minister was heard to say that this is only a temporary provision, – Special Provisions – and that it will lapse in another two years. The Prevention of Terrorism Act was brought as a Temporary Provisions Act for a period of six months in 1979. But, for how long has it remained? In 1982, it was amended to remove, “Temporary Provisions” and it was made permanent and it has stayed in our statute books to the detriment of the country, to the detriment of several crimes being properly investigated and, at least, with the knowledge, with the good knowledge, of these facts, I am saddened that the Hon. Minister of Justice and Labour Relations is moving for the extension of this Order.Read More