A Colombo magistrate has ordered Sri Lanka cricketer Chamika Karunaratne to be arrested and produced before court after he failed to appear at a hearing on Monday.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Kasun Kanchana Dasanayake issued the order when a maintenance case was called and the all-rounder did not present himself.
The case
The proceedings concern a complaint filed by a female pilot seeking maintenance payments for her child. The case was taken up for inquiry on Monday, and the warrant followed Karunaratne’s non-appearance.
Hiru News describes the order as an open warrant and reports that the court has fixed the next hearing for 4 January.
Daily Mirror and Hiru News agree on the substance of the order, the magistrate and the nature of the case. The two outlets differ only in their transliteration of the magistrate’s surname — Daily Mirror renders it “Dasanayake”, Hiru “Dassanayake” — which is a spelling variation rather than a conflict.
Background
Karunaratne, a seam-bowling all-rounder, has represented Sri Lanka in limited-overs cricket. Neither outlet reported any comment from the player or his legal representatives, and no explanation for his absence has been made public.
Sri Lanka Cricket had not issued a statement on the warrant at the time of writing.
This report covers a civil maintenance matter. No criminal charge has been reported against Karunaratne in connection with these proceedings, and a warrant of this kind is a procedural step to compel attendance rather than a finding on the merits of the complaint.
