Jaffna District Member of Parliament Selvarasa Gajendran Archchuna allegedly produced a firearm during a confrontation over a land dispute in the Periyavillan area of Jaffna, prompting a magistrate’s case that is now under way, multiple Sri Lankan newsrooms reported on Saturday.
According to the initial Ada Derana report, the MP is alleged to have brandished the weapon during a heated exchange with another party at the disputed property. Local police are conducting inquiries, and proceedings have been initiated before the relevant magistrate’s court.
In a clarification issued through Newswire, the MP confirmed an incident took place but offered a different account of how the firearm came to be drawn. He said a group of two men and five women arrived at the site and that stones were thrown during the confrontation, prompting him to produce a firearm that, he said, had been issued to him by the Ministry of Defence.
MPs in Sri Lanka may be issued personal protection weapons through Defence Ministry channels, but the use or display of such firearms in civil disputes is tightly circumscribed. The matter is now expected to be examined by the court alongside any police inquiry into the alleged display and the underlying property dispute.
Mr Archchuna, a sitting member of the current parliament representing the Jaffna District, has not been formally charged. Further hearings before the Jaffna magistrate are expected once police inquiries conclude. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the Speaker’s office had issued a statement at the time of publication.
The incident follows Sri Lanka’s first Online Safety Act prosecution concluding earlier this month, which underscored the growing scrutiny of public officials’ conduct on and offline.
Sources: Ada Derana, Newswire.
