DailyMirror
The manner in which bail was granted to sixteen suspects who had allegedly attacked the MBC/MTV head office cannot be justified and police should have produced them before a Magistrate’s Court, Senior Lecturer of Law Faculty Prathibha Mahanamahewa said yesterday.
He made this observation while convening a media briefing to condemn the attack on the MBC/MTV head office at the National Library and Documentation Service Board in Torrington, which was organized by a group going by the name Lawyers for Democracy. He further said that although there were clear video and audio evidence to prove unlawful assembly by a certain group of people with the intention of committing an offence, police were unable to follow the legal process in the country.
He further added that there were provisions in section 140 of Penal Code to apprehend the suspects and produce them before a Magistrate’s Court since they caused damages to properties and inflicted injury to several persons. “We should protect the alternative media in the country as it a key requirement of a participatory democratic system,” he said.
Addressing journalists, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala said that attack on the Sirasa media network was not a mere attack on Sirasa, but an attack on the entire democratic system in the country. Agreeing with him Attorney-at-Law Premaratne Bandara said that all the intellectuals in the country should be united to educate the public since the basic law in the country is deteriorating and the law of the land should be upheld at all cost.