Former minister of state of prisons Lohan Ratwatte has committed and offense which is punishable under attempted murder section 300 of the penal code for entering the Anuradhapura prison and threatening Tamil prisoners with fire arms. The report of the one-man inquiry headed by retired High court judge Sarojini Weerawardene stated that he could be punished under attempt for murder.
It is also revealed that the report of the committee was given to former minister of Justice at the time, Ali Sabri, with the date of 26.11.2021. The social and peace center has obtained this report under the act of freedom of information and the above information has been disclosed.
As enough information is being observed to bring criminal charges against Lohan Ratwatte, the court should report the facts based on the investigations carried out by the police about this incident, the investigations carried out by the police in this regards should be completed very quickly and Lohan Ratwatte should be very aware of the crimes he has committed. The steps to present accusations or charges in a court of competent jurisdiction has to be done within a short period of time. Further, the former high Court judge has presented in the report as her conclusions that appropriate methods should be prepared to get the information from the prison officers who were on duty in Anuradhapura at the time of the incident without letting them to conceal it.
The report has stated that trying to kill two inmates by beating them to the ground with a firearm pointed towards their heads can be charged with offenses punishable under the sections 118 and 120 of the penal code read under the firearms ordinance and making them kneel down and wounding them will be accused and charged under the sections 314 and 315 of the penal code. The report has further stated that he can be accused for pointing firearms at inmates and threatening them, which is an offense punishable by criminal intimidation under section 486 of the penal code read under the gun ordinance.
