Schaffter family welcomes verdict of homicide

Dinesh Schaffter

• Expresses hope that the legal system will continue to uphold justice for Dinesh

The Schaffter family has welcomed the upholding of justice following Additional Magistrate, Rajindra Jayasuriya delivering a verdict of homicide at the inquest of Dinesh Schaffter on 1 November 2023, almost 11 months after his death.

“We, Dinesh’s family, are relieved that the long and painful wait is over. That finally justice has been upheld at the inquest. For the past several months, we have struggled to avert the injustice of a false narrative of suicide,” the family said in a statement.

“For the past half-a-year, Dinesh’s body has been exhumed, denied a place of rest and we have mourned his passing without a grave. Now we are finally able to have Dinesh’s murder acknowledged as a murder. Now we can finally lay our beloved Dinesh to rest, and begin to mourn,” the statement said.

The Schaffter family said they are grateful to those who have worked meticulously to establish the truth about his death.

“We also understand that establishing a cause of death is just the beginning. Saying that Dinesh was murdered merely averts a further injustice, it is not justice done. 

It is our fervent hope that the legal system will continue to uphold justice for Dinesh,” the statement said.

“Dinesh shouldered so many of our burdens, and he always reached out to the marginalised, the oppressed and the overlooked. He fought injustice wherever he saw it. That is how we would like him to be remembered, for the kindness of his life, not the cruelty of his death,” the Schaffter family said and requested privacy from the public as Dinesh was laid to rest one more time, “as we mourn again the passing of a beloved father, husband, son, brother, and good friend.”