Former minister Udaya Gammanpila has filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal challenging the legality of the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s order suspending the sathyagraha at Viharamahadevi Park, the campaign demanding the release of Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera.
The Daily Mirror reported the filing at 4.08 p.m. Colombo time on Wednesday.
What is being asked for
Gammanpila is seeking a writ of certiorari — an order quashing a decision of a lower court or public authority — to set aside the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s order suspending the campaign.
He has named four respondents:
- The Officer-in-Charge of the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station
- The Inspector General of Police
- The Attorney General
- The Colombo Chief Magistrate
Why this matters to the campaign
The order under challenge is the one that ended the protest on the ground. The sathyagraha ran for more than a week at Viharamahadevi Park before being suspended on 25 October following the intervention of the Mahanayake Theras, as this desk reported at the time.
The campaign has generated a sequence of legal and political events over the past fortnight: a court order to disperse, a dispute over banners and the municipal council, a police investigation into alleged incitement, a United National Party call for a presidential pardon, and a Cabinet statement that the chief prelates had made no request for Gnanasara Thera’s release.
A successful writ would not release Gnanasara Thera. It would remove the legal basis on which the protest was suspended.
This is a second, separate petition
Gammanpila filed a writ petition earlier this month over a ban on protests in Fort, which this desk reported on 19 October. That is a different application, directed at a different restriction, and the two should not be read as the same case.
The Daily Mirror’s filing makes no reference to the earlier petition or to its status.
Not reported
The filing does not say when the Court of Appeal will take up the petition, whether interim relief has been sought or granted, or on what grounds the order is said to be unlawful. It does not state Gammanpila’s standing to bring the application — whether he participated in the sathyagraha, represents those who did, or acts in another capacity.
It does not say whether the monks who conducted the campaign are party to the petition, or whether they have brought proceedings of their own. The Daily Mirror’s related coverage notes that a motion by monks challenging a Viharamahadevi Park eviction order was rejected, but the relationship between that motion and this petition is not stated.
No response from the Attorney General’s Department or the police is reported.
Single source. Hiru News’s rail and NewsFirst’s rail had not carried this filing at the time of writing, and Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 consecutive days.