Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe orders probe into resignation of judge over life threats
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered a probe into the resignation of a district judge in the Tamil-majority Northern province's Mullaithivu over threats to his life, officials said on Saturday.
T Saravanarajah tendered his resignation to the Judicial Service Commission on September 23, claiming threats to his life and reportedly left the country.
Among the various cases presided over by the judge, he had ruled against the building of a Buddhist shrine at a disputed archaeological site. The legal proceedings over the digging of an alleged mass grave in the same area were also presided over by Saravanarajah.
According to informed officials, President Wickremesinghe directed the Secretary to the President to probe the circumstances of Saravanarajah's resignation, as the judge hadn't lodged any complaints on the alleged threat to his life previously.
As the district judge of the northern region of Mullaithivu, Saravanarajah had ruled against the building of a Buddhist shrine at Kurunthamale, a disputed archaeological site. The Tamils in the region had protested against what they claimed were land grants by the state for Buddhist archaeological excavations.
Saravanarajah also presided over the legal proceedings at the digging of an alleged mass grave in the same area.
In June, the alleged mass grave was accidentally discovered at Kokkuthuduvai by the National Water Board workers while carrying out digging activities for a development project in the area. The minority Tamil community demanded a credible investigation into an alleged mass grave in the northeastern district.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Mullaithivu was a nerve centre of the LTTE as they ran a parallel state before May 2009 when they were defeated by the Sri Lankan military.
Many legal associations, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, described the judge's resignation as a "serious threat" to the independence of the judiciary in the island nation and urged the Judicial Service Commission to carry out an independent investigation.
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Allahabad High Court summons Bareilly DM, SSP over plea on offering ‘namaz’
Prayagraj (PTI): The Allahabad High Court has directed the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police of Bareilly to appear before it on March 23 after a petitioner alleged denial of permission to perform namaz inside his house.
The order was passed by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddhartha Nandan while hearing the plea by Tarik Khan of Bareilly.
On February 12, the court had granted time to counsel for the State to respond to the plea and had issued notices to the DM and SSP of Bareilly.
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In the petition, it is alleged that authorities did not permit the offering of 'namaz' inside the house of Khan on January 16.
Earlier, in another case related to Maranatha Full Gospel Ministries, the court had observed that the petitioner has right to conduct the prayer as per his convenience in his own private premises without any permission from the state government.
"However, if any occasion arises where it has to spill over the public road or public property, in such a situation, this court mandates that the petitioner shall at least intimate the police and take any requisite permission under the law, if so required," the HC had said.
