An arrest of a judge

The arrest of a High Court judge followed by a large number of lawyers demonstrating on the streets in protest is a matter of serious concern to all those who respect the Rule of the Law.

No person is above the law and all citizens, whatever high office they hold, should be treated as any other citizen in the eyes of the law. But the arrest of a judge is a matter of serious concern unlike that of an ordinary citizen particularly when senior lawyers and lawyers' organisations contest the legal validity of him being arrested and rearrested after being granted bail by a magistrate. In these comments, we are confining ourselves to the action of the executive arm of the government and not the judicial aspects because the case is now before courts.

High Court judge, Mr. Mahanama Thillekeratne, was arrested following an incident which is alleged to have taken place about two months ago where a neighbour of his, an army sergeant, is alleged to have been assaulted by a number of persons. Mr. Thillekeratne was arrested and produced before a magistrate who had granted him bail. Immediately after he had been granted bail, a posse of policemen had turned up to re-arrest him. He is said to have shown a copy of the court order releasing him on bail and the policemen had gone away. A few hours later, the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Mr. Bandula Wickremasinghe had turned up and re-arrested Mr. Thillekeratne despite him showing him the court order granting him bail.

Attorney General Mr. Sarath De Silva was quoted in ‘The Island’ on Thursday saying that he had been unaware that the warrant served on Mr. Thillekeratne had been withdrawn after Mr. Thilllekeratne had surrendered to the Kesbewa Court magistrate. If he had been aware of the factual situation he would have taken appropriate action, the Attorney General had said. When asked whether the CID had informed him of the factual situation, he had replied in the negative.

The question that is being asked by the public is: Who gave orders for the re-arrest of the High Court judge or was it that the CID Director acted on his own volition ?

Mr. Wickremasinghe is now reported to have been transferred out of the post of Director of the CID.

This issue has been making the headlines the entire week and the public remains confused at the time these comments are being written.

Allegations are also being made that this issue has political connotations.

The SLFP as well as its coalition partners when in opposition were stout defenders of the independence of the judiciary and were very vocal in their protests when the judiciary was intimidated in UNP times. Thus, it is in the interest of all parties concerned for the government to make a clear statement explaining the actions of its executive arm.

What do Lankans think of Clinton?

President Bill Clinton's travails have been of much interest to Sri Lankans but we have yet to read comments of our radical chic activists, so called intellectuals, media monitors and now the gays their fellow travellers as well as regular write Opinion Columns on what has come to be known the Lewinski Affair. The only forthright comments that have been made so far by a Sri Lankan been by The Island's Gender Columnist, Cat's Eye.

Should he be judged as a philanderer, a lecher, sex maniac, pervert or adulterer as Bible thumping hell fire and damnation Americans judge him to be or as liberals consider him a: phenomenal sexual athlete of our times, an Apollo who is irresistible women of all ages, or a genius in politics and sex etc.?

Sri Lankans of the days gone by were quite liberal about sex, kings being polygamous and peasantry being polyandrous, the radical chic, point out quite gleefully. Political analysts note that this is perhaps the only feature of our ancestors that is viewed in good light by the liberal concatenation. For some reason or the other President Clinton’s sexploits appear to be taboo for comments, even those liberals (or is it libertines?)in the state media . The American President seems out of bounds, even though they are right now raving about the joys homosexuality.

Another striking feature is that self-appointed Pontiffs and self-appointed media monitors have not analysed how the American media has been reacting to this issue. What do those crying out ' responsible journalism' have to say about voyeuristic delights as reported in the American media on what went on in the Oval Office? President Clinton, it would be recalled, salvaged I American economy from a budget deficit running into trillions of dollars and made it one of t strongest American economies in contemporary history. Should a responsible American media have acted in the manner they did?

Certain others who see a dirty Jew behind every local or global conspiracy have pronounced their verdict: Poor Bill and Hillary Clinton who supported the Palestinians and were twisting Netyanhu's arm for an autonomous Palestine were victims of a super conspiracy by the American Jewish lobby. Monica Lewenski is a Jew and a plant of the Jewish lobby, they say.