A complaint has been lodged with the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) seeking an inquiry from Power and Energy Minister Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila’s lawyer into publicly acknowledging that the police had assisted a suspect in evading arrest.
Responding to a media query last weekend regarding the failure of the All Ceylon People’s Congress leader Rishad Bathiudeen to be apprehended by the police, Minister Gammanpila, who is also a lawyer, said that he and his party leader Madhumadhava Aravinda had been in hiding from the police for 35 days.
“His statement as a lawyer is a disgrace to the entire legal profession,” Attorney-at-Law Shehara Herath said in a letter to Bar Association President Kalinga Indatissa.
“This statement, which can be fired as a confession under Section 17 (2) of the Evidence Ordinance, emphasizes that the said lawyer assisted and aided in 2019 to avoid arresting a suspect for 35 days.
Just as there should be a criminal investigation into this statement, it is a serious violation of the conduct expected of a lawyer. ”
Shehara Herath further emphasizes that Minister Gammanpila is setting a negative precedent for lawyers as well as society as a whole by publicly endorsing by a lawyer the obstruction of the duty of public servants to administer justice.
The police tried to arrest Madhumadhava Aravinda, in connection with the anti-Muslim violence in Minuwangoda after the Easter bombing.