Sagala insists student activist was to be arrested not abducted

The Government yesterday insisted that there was no attempt by the Police to abduct student activist Ryan Jayalath recently but arrest him on a court order.

Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake however admitted there were some shortcomings over the manner in which the activist was to be arrested.Ratnayake also expressed regret over the manner in which the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) attempted to arrest the student activist.

Ratnayake told Parliament that Police officers is uniform and plain clothes had been deployed to arrest the activist in Colombo on a court order.

Jayalath was wanted over the recent forced entry to the Health Ministry during a protest.

The Minister said that a Police vehicle was used to carry out the arrest. However protests by other students prevented the arrest. Allegations were later made that an attempt was made by the Police to abduct the activist using a “white van”.

However Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella insisted that there was no “white van” attempt on the activist but an attempt to arrest him by the Police using a Police vehicle. (Colombo Gazette)