Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department on Monday over what he described as “unbearable” defamatory attacks on social media, Newswire reported.
Speaking to reporters outside the CID, the Thera said he had finally come to lodge the complaint after being patient for a long time. He alleged that defamatory videos were posted late at night without verification, with hundreds of calls flooding his phone the following morning. “What kind of hate speech is this? Can people mentally torture others like this?” he said.
The BBS general secretary said he had submitted CDs containing the defamatory material as evidence and urged authorities to investigate. He recounted one incident in which an individual repeatedly called him, then posted a video urging others to do the same — resulting in nearly 500 calls the next day. “This has to stop. That is why I came to the CID to file a complaint,” he said.
The Thera’s CID approach as complainant marks an unusual procedural reversal in a public profile that has more often featured him on the receiving end of investigations and criminal charges. He was granted bail by the Colombo High Court in April after indictments were served over remarks said to have insulted Islam.
Source: Gnanasara Thera files CID complaint over defamatory social media attacks — Newswire, June 15.
