President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has signalled that the government is prepared to amend three contested provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill, including cutting the period for which police may hold a suspect before producing them in court from 72 hours to 48 hours.
The announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court concluded hearing 26 petitions challenging the Bill’s constitutionality, and the three concessions map closely onto objections argued before that bench.
The three provisions
Detention. The President said the 72-hour detention period the Bill grants police could be reduced to 48 hours, NewsFirst reported, describing him as open to revising the provision as part of efforts to address concerns while preserving the law’s effectiveness.
Tattoos and identifying marks. He said the government was also ready to review provisions dealing with the signs and symbols used to identify members of organised criminal gangs — references to tattoos and similar markings that rights advocates have criticised. If that method of identification were considered unnecessary in the Sri Lankan context, the provision could be removed, the Daily Mirror reported.
Excise offences. A third concession appears only in the Sinhala filings: the President said matters included in the Bill relating to offences under the Excise Ordinance are also open to amendment, Hiru News reported. Neither English-language filing mentions it.
How firmly was this said?
The three accounts differ in strength, and the difference matters.
The Daily Mirror’s headline states the detention period “will be reduced”. NewsFirst reports that it “could be” cut, describing the President as signalling willingness. Both Hiru filings use සූදානම් — ready or prepared to amend. Two of the three accounts, including the Sinhala original, describe an openness rather than a decision, and this desk follows the weaker formulation. No amendment has been tabled.
Why these three
Each concession corresponds to a submission made in the Supreme Court this week.
- Clause 4(2), which permits membership of an organised criminal group to be inferred from dress, hand signs, language and tattoos, was challenged by President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris for the Bar Association as criminalising people on the basis of appearance and association.
- President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva objected that the Bill’s schedule sweeps in offences under the Excise Act and the Intellectual Property Act, so that a trademark or liquor offence could carry the arrest and detention machinery the Bill attaches to organised crime.
- The detention architecture is the subject of objections running through nearly all the petitions.
The President’s wider position
Dissanayake said he and his political movement had consistently opposed the Prevention of Terrorism Act and had personally experienced the impact of repressive laws, and that the government had no intention of introducing legislation similar to the PTA. The Bill was brought before Parliament, he said, because of a genuine legal need to address organised criminal activity.
He said the government remained willing to discuss concerns with human rights activists and other stakeholders, and had no intention of suppressing the public or violating fundamental rights. He also stressed that the country could not ignore the threat posed by narcotics and organised criminal networks, describing the drug menace as the most common threat facing Sri Lankans today.
Hours earlier, the People’s Struggle Alliance had protested in Colombo against this Bill, the PTA and the proposed counter-terrorism law, warning the government against reproducing repressive powers under new names.
A note on where he was speaking
The three outlets describe the venue differently. The Daily Mirror places the remarks at an event under the “Ratama Ekata” national operation; NewsFirst at a programme marking the first anniversary of the national drive against drugs and crime; Hiru at an all-religions convention marking a year of the operation. A broadcast still from the event carries a caption reading “Ratama Ekata national operation — All-Religions Convention”, which indicates these are three descriptions of one event rather than three events.
Not reported
No filing states when an amended Bill would be presented, whether the amendments would be moved at committee stage, or how a 48-hour limit would interact with the further period of police custody the Bill allows after a suspect first appears. None reports a response from the petitioners or the Attorney General. The Attorney General is due to present the government’s position on the petitions to the Supreme Court on Monday 9 November.
