The Right to Information (RTI) Commission yesterday (2) ordered the Ministry of Justice, Prisons Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms to release the report of the one-member committee (retired High Court [HC] Judge Kusala Sarojani Weerawardene) appointed to investigate the alleged incidents pertaining to then-State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and incumbent State Minister of Plantation Industries Lohan Ratwatte having forcibly entered the Anuradhapura and Welikada prisons and intimidated several inmates in September 2021.
The Commission ordered the Ministry to release the relevant report after hearing an appeal filed by the research team of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) in Colombo 10.
When a request was made under the RTI Act from the Ministry, requesting the said report, the Ministry had refused to provide the report and had informed that the report was prepared based on a communication received from the Cabinet of Ministers. The Ministry had informed that the report had been forwarded to the Cabinet with a note, but that it had not received any response from the Cabinet on the actions that had been taken in relation to the incidents. Therefore, the Ministry had informed the CSR's research team that it could not release the report, under Section 5(1)(m) of the RTI Act (“the information is of a Cabinet memorandum in relation to which a decision has not been taken”).
When the appeal was taken up yesterday, the Commission questioned the Ministry regarding whether this report was a Cabinet memorandum or something else. A Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry who appeared for the Ministry then said that the report was a committee report and that it had been forwarded to the Cabinet with a note. At that time, the Commission stated that Section 5(1)(m) only deals with a Cabinet memorandum and that a note which had been forwarded to the Cabinet does not fall under that provision. Accordingly, the Commission ordered the Ministry to release the relevant report before 23 February with a copy to the Commission. If the Ministry fails to do so before the due date, the Commission stated that it would file a case in the relevant Magistrate’s Court under Section 39 of the RTI Act.
The appeal was heard before Commission members, retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Upali Abeyratne (Chairman) and Attorneys-at-Law Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena and Jagath Liyanaarachchi. The appellant was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Suren D. Perera and Manushika Cooray, and Journalist Tharindu Jayawardhana.
On 12 September 2021, it was alleged that an inebriated and pistol-brandishing Ratwatte had flown in a helicopter to the Anuradhapura Prison, where he had summoned a group of Tamil political prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (reports state between 8-16 such prisoners), ordered them to kneel, and proceeded to threaten two of them at point blank range, telling them to accept their offence/s and to submit to authority. It was also alleged that prior to this incident, on 6 September, Ratwatte had, together with a group of friends, under the influence of liquor, forcibly entered the Welikada Prison premises after 6 p.m. and proceeded to view the gallows.
As per Section 39 of the Prisons Ordinance, an MP who wishes to pay a visit to a prison can only do so between the hours of 5.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Following widespread criticism after The Daily Morning exclusively reported the story, Ratwatte, while denying any involvement in the said incidents, resigned from the said State Ministerial portfolio but remained as the State Minister of Gem and Jewellery-Related Industries. The prisoners in question have since filed fundamental rights petitions in the Supreme Court.