Magistrates and judges on All Island strike ; Lawyers too stage protest

-attack on JSC Secretary : inside story-Monday 8 of October 2012

(Lanka-e-News-08.Oct.2012-5.00PM) The Executive Committee of the Magistrates’ Association which met on the 7th decided that their members shall stage a strike on the 8th to demonstrate their opposition against the brutal attack launched on the Secretary of the Judicial service commission (JSC). Accordingly , The Magistrate courts and the district courts Island wide will not be functioning on the 8th. It is significant to note this type of action had been compelled to be resorted to by judges for the second time in the Courts history of SL . Only recently , because of the hooligan behavior of a Minister Rishard Badurdeen of this same Govt . ,where a judge of the Mannar court was threatened and intimidated , and an attack was launched by Minister’s thugs, the judges had no choice but to strike to express their resentment. Hereunder is a detailed account on the attack launched on the JSC Secretary : Manjula Thilakaratne had been in his car reading the newspapers after dropping his children at S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia for sports training sessions. He had then received a call from Judge Patabendi . As he was answering the call , somebody had attacked his driving side windscreen and shouted ‘open the door’. Two of the assailants had in their hands what looked like sharp weapons .One of them had then brandished an automatic pistol . As Thilakaratne was fearing that he would be shot at ,he had opened the windscreen, when the assailants have shouted asking donation. Then they have questioned, ‘aren’t you the Secretary of the Judiciary?’ while attacking him in the chest and the mouth. Hearing the shouting , the people around have flocked to the scene when the assailants have run to their motor bikes and fled the scene in them. A judge who who wished to remain anonymous speaking to Lanka e news commented on this degrading and disgraceful assault as follows : This is a most grave situation full of portents , and if this is allowed to continue , the judges may have to leave this country in fear on grounds of security . If this is not halted forthwith , and if nothing is done to strengthen the independence of the judiciary , the ordinary people will also take the law into their hands , and there would be none to administer justice ending in anarchy sooner than later .It is an independent judiciary that can function as the moderator between the legislature and the Executive , and if that is lost it will result in murder and mayhem with proper governance also dying , he warned.