Gnanasara granted bail; re-remanded over threats to Sandhya Eknaligoda

Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero who was granted bail in the matter of contempt of court was further remanded till today for threatening Sandya Eknaligoda - Pix by Shehan Gunasekara

• Magistrate denies bail to monk for threatening missing journalist’s wife based on witness and victim protection act
• SSC Dilipa Peiris appears as usual in Eknaligoda case- transfer orders rescinded?
• BASL intervenes as ‘friend of the court’ in BBS monk’s contempt case

By Dharisha Bastians 

The legal woes of controversial Bodu Bala Sena Chief Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero looked set to continue, after the Homagama Magistrate granted the monk bail on a contempt of court charge he was arrested on last month, but ordered him back into police custody for previously threatening Sandhya Eknaligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth. 

Homagama Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake released the controversial monk on strict bail conditions on the contempt charge. He referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Department to file indictments against the controversial monk in the Court of Appeal. 

However Magistrate Dissanayake issued an order to place Gnanasara Thero in police custody again until a hearing today (10), for previously threatening Sandhya Eknaligoda on 26 January. The Magistrate noted that in view of recently enacted Witness and Victim Protection laws he was unable to grant the monk bail on that charge.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka also stepped in on the contempt of court case against the controversial BBS Chief yesterday, in the capacity of amicus curiae or ‘friend of the court’. The BASL will provide information that has bearing on the case, despite not being solicited by any of the parties to the case, on the basis that the case concerned an independence of the judiciary issue. BASL President Geoffery Alagaratnam PC and Deputy President Attorney at Law Saliya Pieris appeared on behalf of the Bar Association. 

Meanwhile, controversy within the Attorney General’s Department also came to light on Monday (8), with the alleged attempted transfer of Senior State Counsel in the Prageeth Eknaligoda disappearance case, Dilipa Peiris. SSC Peiris appeared with another state counsel in the case when it was taken up for hearing yesterday, refuting strong speculation that he had been transferred. 

Speaking to Daily FT on Monday (8), Acting Attorney General Suhada Gamlath said Peiris had been transferred “at his own request” because he did not want to continue working on the Eknaligoda case. A few minutes later, Peiris denied the claim, and insisted he would appear before the Homagama Magistrate today, in the controversial case. 

The Homagama Magistrate yesterday granted bail to controversial Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnansara Thero who had been arrested on several charges including contempt of court on 26 January. 

Several others who were remanded after the BBS Chief, were re-remanded by the Magistrate following an identification parade, pending further investigations. 

Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared in January 2010, and his wife Sandhya filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the Court of Appeal, that is being investigated at the Homagama Magistrate’s Court. Seven military intelligence personnel attached to the Giritale army camp have been arrested in connection with the journalist’s disappearance. On 26 January, the BBS monk stormed into the Homagama Magistrate’s Court demanding to intervene in the case on behalf of ‘war heroes’ he said were being wrongly accused in the case. When the magistrate denied his request the monk hurled insults at the judge and government lawyers, accusing them of betraying the country’s armed forces, and allegedly threatened Sandhya Eknaligoda who was inside the court house, saying her husband was a member of the LTTE.