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Geetha requests a dedicated High Court  for women and kids

31 Oct 2022

BY Mirudhula Thambiah State Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe said that a separate High Court must be established to examine children- and women-related cases and thereby expedite the relevant processes. Speaking to The Morning last week, Kumarasinghe said that she would request President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take necessary steps to establish a separate High Court for the above purpose in Colombo, following which she would ensure such courts be set up separately for the remaining 24 districts. “Children and women must have at least one High Court, then all these problems could be resolved easily. I have requested President Wickremesinghe in this regard through a letter. Most cases reach the High Court and are stagnant for a considerable time. Therefore, this process of justice takes years, and in the meantime the affected party has to await proceedings,” she added. Kumarasinghe further said: “It is impractical for a person living in Jaffna, Trincomalee, and Anuradhapura to come to Colombo for a court case. We have to be reasonable. We should establish a court in every region. If we do not take these measures, the affected will be silent. Whatever harassment they have faced, they would be reluctant to raise their voice.” She also stated that currently, the drug menace had affected schoolchildren as well. “Now the drug issue has affected schoolchildren as well. This will ruin the entire country. The police should keep their duty in mind, thinking of our nation and the children. I am not the Minister of Education but I can look after those under 18 years who are children. Already, there are schoolchildren who are used to drugs,” she added. She further said that the staff of her Ministry had been directed to assign ten good lawyers to handle women- and children-related cases from 1 November. “From 1 November I told my Ministry’s staff to speak to ten good lawyers to handle these cases, I would also request a Non-Government Organisation to aid this attempt. These top lawyers must be paid. At the same time, the police should be alerted. We only have seven people to look into telephone calls. How can seven of them look into all the complaints they get? That should also be looked into,” she added.  


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