(Lanka-e-News -14.May.2016, 12.20PM) Committing contempt of court is a challenge to the administration of justice in a country. It is why such an individual found guilty is punished by court. If an individual is to criticize within court premises the verdicts of courts as he /she wishes , vilifies the courts or threatens courts it is tantamount to contempt of court .
When one studies the report in regard to the recent ragging incident at the Kelaniya University ,and the statement made by the raggers , it is very evident that they have not only openly defied the laws , but have also degraded and despised the powers and authority of the court.
Let us examine the statement (herein) made by the female ragger on behalf of he suspects when they were produced in court…Her statement absolutely and clearly demeaned the court and challenged the verdict delivered. If we are to borrow her own words, ‘it became clear in court under the ragging enactment quoted , only if we use force to have sex , we cannot get bail. Yet , even when such a thing has not taken place , a court decision of its own was taken to refuse bail’ she claimed. Her view was , the court had taken its own decision not to grant bail to the suspects despite the fact that there was n’t such a situation in this instance, The youth went on to declare further as follows:
‘At this moment definitely we tell the authorities , if these suspects are detained forcibly any longer without any charges , and if these students are not freed forthwith , we shall continue with our struggle and engage in our protests.’
In her statement noted above she says the court has come to a decision on its own. This is clearly a contempt of court because it is criticizing a court decision, challenging the authority of he court, and is critical of the affairs of the court. (decision given in Attorney General v Times Newspapers Ltd. and others (2001) EWCA Civ 97; [2001] 1 WLR 885; [2001] EMLR 530 ).
In her second statement , she insisted that ‘ these students who are being detained without any valid grounds shall be released immediately.’ Or else they would continue to agitate and stage protests , she threatened.Since these suspects are currently incarcerated on a court order , the power to release them is only vested with the courts.
In other words , it is the court that is being forced to release these suspects. It is significant to note , an individual who is incarcerated on a court order cannot be released or forced to be released by anybody ( not even by the president).
All what can be done is a request for bail can be made.. Besides , her demanding to release the suspects ,and her assertion that protests will be staged otherwise, constitute a threat to the court, in my opinion. When considering the case (Garuminige Thilakaratne , S.B. Dissanayake ) in which the contempt of court issue was taken up , it is my conviction this statement cannot be dismissed without being treated as tantamount to serious contempt of court .
Sugath Dheerawardena , Attorney at law
Translated by Jeff
The relevant video footage is herein
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by (2016-05-14 06:59:44)
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