AG files appeal in High Court against discharging Wasantha Mudalige from all charges

By T. Farook Thajudeen

The Attorney General has filed a revision application before the Colombo High Court calling to set aside the order issued by Colombo Chief Magistrate releasing the Convener of the Inter University Students Federation Wasantha Mudalige from all charges filed against him.

The Attorney General’s Department had filed the application before the High Court and it was fixed to be taken up for inquiry on 3 April by the registrar of High Court No. 4 yesterday.

The Attorney General by the revision application had contended that the Magistrate does not have jurisdiction to release the suspect who was arrested and remanded under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without the Attorney General’s sanction.

The Attorney General asserted that that the order given by Magistrate Prasanna Alwis without considering the objections raised by the State Counsel Dileepa Pieris during the inquiry before the Magistrate Court is a defilement of the law and releasing a suspect from all charges was contrary to the law and a violation of the law of the country.

Therefore the Attorney General by the revision application has pleaded to the High Court to set aside the Magistrate’s order and to remand the suspect.

Mudalige, who was remanded under the PTA, was released on 31 January 2023 after the Colombo Chief Magistrate considered the requests made by counsels representing him after being in arrest for 167 days.