Justitia cringing in horror
Lawyers gearing for two days’ strike
January 7, 2016, 7:31 am
It is with trepidation that ordinary people always visit courts of law. For, even a yawn in those places is considered contempt of court which carries severe punishment. A man was sentenced to eight months in jail for yawning in a court the other day. Policemen pounce on those who ever so much as scratch their heads in a courtroom. That’s how the dignity of the judiciary is persevered!
But, on Monday a group of lawyers and some policemen created an ugly scene in Colombo Magistrate’s Court. They threw the court house into turmoil, bringing its proceedings to an abrupt end. A case against a politician and his henchmen who are alleged to have assaulted a group of persons engaged in a protest against the Meethotamulla garbage dump was being heard at that time.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has led pro-democracy campaigns from the front and fearlessly taken on oppressive governments to protect judicial independence and tame arrogant political leaders who thought no end of themselves. It courageously took up the cudgels for Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake when she was wrongfully impeached. It has recently called for action against those who set upon the Meethotamulla protesters.
But, sadly, the same high octane performance was absent on the part of the BASL when a group of lawyers went berserk in the Colombo High Court, opposing the judgment in the so-called White Flag case on Nov. 18, 2011; they not only smashed furniture in the courtroom but also heaped abuse on a female judge. The culprits went scot free! That set a very bad precedent.
Among those ensconced in power today are some grandees who backed the J. R. Jayewardene regime to the hilt in 1983, when a group of pro-government thugs stoned the houses of Supreme Court Judges who had given the judgment in a fundamental rights case in favour of Vivienne Goonewardena. In July 2012, a mob led by a minister of the Rajapaksa government which was, not to put too fine a point on it, a veritable cesspool into which anti-social elements of all sorts were drained, attacked the Mannar court complex. The ‘yahapalana’ government which came to power last January, promising good governance, had no qualms about appointing that politician a minister. Worse, he was also made a member of its National Executive Council which was tasked with restoring judicial independence among other things!
Anyone has a right to disagree with judges on their decisions which can be challenged in higher courts or even criticised without causing an affront to the dignity of the judiciary. That is how issues arising from disagreements on judicial decision and contentious matters discussed in courts should be handled in a civilized society.
It is now taken for granted that the lawmakers representing the party in power have legal immunity. They have proved over the years that they can storm media institutions, smash up night clubs, tie public officials to trees and have people abducted and hold kangaroo trials in their party offices with impunity. However, those who thought indiscipline reigned only in Parliament stand corrected. It has now spread to the other branches of government; the judiciary has not been spared. Monday’s incident in the Colombo Magistrate’s court may have made the law-abiding citizens wonder whether black and khaki coats place the wearers thereof above the law the way the kapati suit does.
There has been a serious erosion of public faith in the national legislature owing to the despicable acts of rowdyism it has become notorious for. MPs, most of whom are school dropouts who would not have been able to secure decent jobs either in the state service or the private sector, plunge Parliament into chaos. The judiciary is one of the few state institutions that still command public respect, but, we are afraid, it will go the same way as the legislature unless stern action is taken against the rowdies in the garb of lawyers and policemen responsible for fracas in court houses.
Stringent action is called for against those responsible for Monday’s incident in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court. Let the National Police Commission, the BASL etc be urged to ensure that they are brought to book. A stitch in time, as they say, saves nine.
Curiouser and curiouser!
The Police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, asked by the media the other day why UNP MP Hirunika Premachandra had not been arrested over the Dematagoda abduction carried out by her bodyguards, said the matter had been referred to the Attorney General’s Department. The police would act according to the AG’s advice, he said.
We thought the AG’s Department was not short of good legal brains to study simple matters like the one the police have referred to it and express opinions within a couple of days. Curiously, that institution has not yet been able to instruct the police.
It is incumbent upon the AG to order that his subordinates get cracking. He is considered an efficient official though some dim-witted government politicians are convinced otherwise. Where is he? Has he also been abducted?
