01 October  2023

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

 

 

 

SRI LANKAN JUDICIARY LACKS INDEPENDENCE

 

The hottest news in Sri Lanka is:

 

‘Mullaitivu District Judge T. Saravanaraja has resigned from his posts and left the country due to life threats, pressures, and harassment.’

 

A medical professional in one of our social groups, presented the facts as follows:

 

‘Notably, Saravanaraja had recently presided over two significant cases. The first case involved a dispute  over a religious site, Kurunthurmalai, an ancient Tamil temple site located within the Thannimurippu area of the Mullaitivu district, after members of the majority Sinhala Buddhist community occupied the religious site from Hindu worshippers. Much to the anger of the Sinhala Buddhist community, Saravanaraja ordered the removal of recently erected structures, including an unlawfully constructed Buddhist shrine situated atop Kurunthurmalai.’

 

Another from the group, directed us to Tamil Politian M. A. Sumanthiran’s analysis at  Yarl Devi News. Mr Sumanthiran claims that this is confirms the  challenge to the judiciary had reached a height that it had not reached ever before. He continued to present three options under those circumstances:

 

1.   To ignore the threats

2.   To resign

3.   To give in to the pressure and write their judgment accordingly.

To my mind, there is a fourth option.

4.   To expose the politicians by suing them

This cannot be done for anything stated or done under Parliamentary Privilege.

I sued two judges, as follows:

 

Justice Brian Timberline & Justice Peter Jacobson

 

‘I learnt about this Hicks matter during the hearing of my complaint against the State of NSW (Police) in the Federal Magistrates Court. Magistrate Smith balanced the claim by the State (which brought Justine Tamberlin’s dismissal of my complaint against the UNSW, in support of the State’s  application for summary dismissal )  by stating that Justice Tamberlin had ruled otherwise in the Hicks case.  That communicated to me that Magistrate Smith did consider me to be fellow Australian – the second one from the court system. The first one was Justice Sackville of the Federal Court of Australia, who had the integrity to uphold on 07 April 2005,  that duty judge Peter Jacobson had erred in rejecting my complaint against  Randwick City Council, by using Subjective assessment instead of Objective assessment as required by the Rules of the Court.’  – Naan Australian

 

The threat of losing my home was hanging over my head. But I did not give up. From time to time, someone who cared did guide me by demonstrating that they believed me. I carry them as my soulmates. The rest happens as per the system of truth.

 

Similarly in the case of Sri Lankan judiciary, those who care would be supported if they genuinely care.

 

According  to Newsreports,  ‘The second hearing of the suit AR/673/18 was held on July 4th, 2023, where the court ordered the Department of Archeology and the Police department to submit a report regarding the issue at hand. Following the court hearing, the Magistrate Court Judge conducted a field visit to the site. 

During the field visit, 7 Buddhist monks along with MP Sarath Weerasekara entered the temple with flowers and other offerings and conducted worship at the Buddhist temple.  The judge ordered the police in the premises to immediately stop the worship as it contravenes multiple existing court orders.

 

In this instance, Mr Sarath Weerasekara did not have the protection of Parliamentary privilege and the judge ought to have sued him. He would have if he loved the judicial system. The Parliament has the responsibility at least conduct an inquiry into this in parallel with the Easter Bombings inquiry. The purpose is to find the Truth. Truth will do the rest. The Judiciary enjoys independent status to rule as per the truth it knows.