- Comic and YouTuber re-remanded
The Police will initiate legal action against the organisers and others involved in the stand-up comedy programme in which stand-up comedian Nathasha Edrisooriya made the controversial statement that allegedly insulted Buddhism, only if it is revealed during the investigation that they had a prior knowledge that she was going to make such a statement, The Daily Morning learned.
Edirisooriya was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on charges of making a statement that allegedly insulted Buddhism during a stand-up comedy programme held in Colombo. Following her arrest, the owner of the YouTube Channel SL VLOG Bruno Divakara was also arrested by the CID, and both are currently held in remand custody. The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court ordered the duo to be further remanded in custody until 21 June 2023.
The Daily Morning queried Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police and attorney Nihal Thalduwa whether the Police and the CID would initiate legal action against the organisers of the programme, and other individuals involved in it, to which he said that they would decide on the matter according to the findings of the ongoing investigations.
“The CID will investigate as to whether the organisers of this programme had prior knowledge that she was going to make a statement that insults Buddhism. If they have got her to join the programme with prior knowledge about the statement, then the CID will initiate legal action against them. Otherwise, there is no possibility to do so.”
Meanwhile, claiming that incidents of Buddhism and other religions being insulted by various individuals are of an organised nature, the Minister of Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, President`s Counsel, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe recently said that strict legal action would be taken against such individuals. He said that the Police has the power to initiate investigations and legal action on such matters even without the receipt of a complaint.
The CID arrested Divakara on 31 May, after questioning him for more than eight hours over the recent controversial comments of Edirisooriya. Divakara was brought in for questioning as the video of concern, which had gone viral across social media platforms, was initially published on SL VLOG. Meanwhile, Edirisooriya was arrested by the CID on 28 May at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport. She was arrested over certain remarks that she had made, allegedly insulting multiple religions during her segment at a recent stand-up comedy show hosted at a school in Colombo.