Police have opened an investigation into statements made to the media by Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thera during the Viharamahadevi Park satyagraha, after a complaint from the National People’s Power. The Colombo Chief Magistrate has ordered media institutions to hand over unedited footage of the remarks.

Cinnamon Gardens Police informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama of the investigation on Monday, NewsFirst reported at 7.24 p.m. Colombo time. Hiru News reported the same court appearance at 4.01 p.m.

The complaint

The investigation was begun on a complaint by Jagath Basnayake, an organiser attached to the National People’s Power. He alleged the Thera had made false statements to the media during the protest that were capable of inciting the public, misleading people and undermining public confidence.

Hiru locates the complaint at the NPP’s Pelawatte party office; NewsFirst describes it as coming from the party’s headquarters. The two are consistent — Pelawatte is where the NPP’s head office sits.

The specific statement at issue

Police told the court that a statement the Thera made to the media on 22 October, about two individuals who had allegedly arrived at Viharamahadevi Park carrying two knives, was entirely false and misleading.

That narrows the case considerably. This is not a general complaint about the tone of the protest but an allegation about one specific factual claim — that armed men came to the satyagraha site — which police say did not happen.

Police submitted that disseminating false statements constitutes a violation of Section 98 of the Police Ordinance, and told the court an investigation had been commenced.

They also asked the court to direct media institutions to provide unedited footage relating to the statements. The Magistrate granted that request, ordering media institutions to hand the unedited footage to police, and further directed police to report the progress of the investigation to the court promptly.

Context

A group including Balangoda Kassapa Thera staged the satyagraha at Viharamahadevi Park over several days, demanding the immediate release of Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, who is serving a prison sentence for contempt of court. This desk has reported the court order to disperse, the Thera’s hospitalisation during the protest and the suspension of the satyagraha after the Maha Nayake Theros intervened. Separately on Monday, the UNP called for a presidential pardon for Gnanasara Thera.

A note on the police station’s name: Hiru’s Sinhala names Kurunduwatta police and NewsFirst’s English names Cinnamon Gardens police. These are the same station — Kurunduwatta is the Sinhala name for Cinnamon Gardens — not two forces.

What this does not establish

No finding of fact has been made. Police have stated a position to a magistrate; the court has ordered evidence gathered, not adjudicated. The Thera has not been charged, and neither filing carries any response from him, from his lawyers or from the group that organised the satyagraha.

Neither report says what penalty Section 98 of the Police Ordinance carries, which media institutions are covered by the footage order, or what deadline they have been given. Neither explains how police established the knife claim was false, nor whether any separate investigation was made into the alleged incident itself at the time it was reported.

The order for unedited footage places news organisations in the position of supplying material to a police investigation into a protest they covered — a point neither filing examines, and one that sits alongside the media-freedom concerns raised this month over separate legislation.