- AG challenges Colombo MC decision to release Wasantha Mudalige from PTA case
Attorneys representing Inter-University Students' Federation (IUSF) Convenor Wasantha Mudalige are expecting to make the relevant explanations before the Colombo High Court (HC) as soon as they receive the documents regarding the revised application filed by Attorney General (AG), President’s Counsel (PC) Sanjay Rajaratnam to the Colombo HC, challenging the decision of the Colombo Magistrate’s Court (MC) to release Mudalige, who was detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), from the related case.
When contacted by The Daily Morning, Attorney-at-Law Manoj Nanayakkara, who is appearing on behalf of Mudalige in several cases against him, said: “We have come to know that the AG has filed a revision application to the Colombo HC. He has sought the nullification of the order issued by Colombo Magistrate Prasanna Alwis to release Mudalige from the case. We have however not received any document pertaining to it. As soon as we receive them, we will make the relevant explanations before the Colombo HC that the Colombo Magistrate’s decision is correct.”
In the wake of the Police Media Division stating on 2 February that the Police Headquarters had requested the AG to file an appeal over the release of Mudalige, by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 31 January, as per the existing legal provisions, the AG had on 10 February filed a revision application before the Colombo HC seeking the nullification of the order issued by Magistrate Alwis to release Mudalige from the case which had been filed by the Terrorism Investigations Division (TID) under the PTA against him.
When contacted by The Daily Morning on an earlier occasion, Nanayakkara said that the Colombo Magistrate had given the relevant order to release Mudalige from the case, taking into account all the evidence and other facts presented before the Court. Claiming that it was certain that the Police had requested the AG to file an appeal regarding the release after prior consultation with the AG’s Department, he said that he and the other lawyers representing Mudalige were ready to face any such legal proceeding.
Observing that Mudalige has not committed any offence coming under the PTA, Colombo Magistrate Alwis, on 31 January, ordered the release of Mudalige from the case which had been filed by the TID under the PTA. The Magistrate observed that charges had been filed against him (Mudalige) under Sections 2(1) and 3 of the PTA, but that none of those charges have been proved through evidence.