Special Petition filed before SC requesting Bill against death penalty be declared constitutional

• Petitioner Prof. Kamina Gunaratne appeals to SC to decide Private Members’ Bill to be legal and notify Speaker

By Manopriya Gunaratne 

A Special Petition was filed before the Supreme Court yesterday by Professor Kamina Gunaratne, requesting for the Private Members Bill presented to Parliament to be declared constitutional, and for that decision to be conveyed by the Supreme Court to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. 

The Petition comes after President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday said the Attorney General has informed him that the Bill to abolish the death penalty, presented to Parliament last week as a Private Members’ Motion, is not legal. 

The Attorney General has been named as a Respondent in the Petition, which states the death penalty is against the fundamental right to life, and degrades humans when it is carried out. The Petition, filed by lawyer Manjula Balasuriya, argues that the Private Members’ Bill was formulated in line with international laws and best practices, and therefore is not in contravention of the Sri Lankan Constitution. 

The Petition also states that the Private Members’ Bill is in accordance with international treaties and agreements Sri Lanka has signed and ratified over the years, and therefore supports the fundamental right to life and to live with dignity as prescribed by many international and local laws. Furthermore the Bill can also be passed with a simple majority in Parliament. 

Therefore the Petitioner begs the Supreme Court to declare the Bill legal and convey that decision to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.    

United National Party (UNP) MP Bandula Lal Bandarigoda last Thursday presented his Private Members’ Bill to abolish the death penalty in Parliament, countering President Maithripala Sirisena’s push to remove the moratorium on the death penalty in Sri Lanka.  

MP Bandarigoda, who was granted leave to present the Bill in Parliament, moved the Bill that challenges President Maithripala Sirisena’s efforts to execute four prisoners on the death row before the end of his term. MP Bandarigoda’s Bill proposes that Parliament convert capital punishment into life imprisonment.

The Bill, titled “Abolition of Death Penalty Act”, proposes any reference in any law to the imposition of the death penalty or punishment by death, from and after the coming of the Act, be construed as punishment by imprisonment for life.