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Ex-Parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra and 14 others who were arrested by the Cinnamon Gardens Police on Monday (14) were released on a cash bail of Rs. 10,000/- each, and a personal bail of Rs. 5 Million each on Tuesday (15).

14 women including the former member of parliament, and one male were produced to Colombo Chief Magistrate Nandana Amarasinghe.

They were charged with violating the Police Ordinance and obstructing the duties of police officers.

The 15 suspects were moved to court by the Cinnamon Gardens Police at 9:15 AM, however, it was 11 AM when they were produced to the Magistrate.

When the Chief Magistrate questioned the B Report, the police officers noted that the B Report was taken away by Senior Officers.

Defence Counsel pointed out that there is an attempt to file charges for offences that were not committed by the suspects, by a new B report that could be prepared on the instructions of Senior Police Officers.

Thereafter, Sri Lanka Police produced the B Report to the Court, and ASP Neville De Silva the Director of the Colombo Crimes Division made submissions on behalf of Sri Lanka Police.

He told the court that the group did not inform Sri Lanka Police of their intentions to assemble, and illegally attempted to enter the road leading to the President's House.

He said that Sri Lanka Police is vested with the responsibility of protecting the President, and thus installed roadblocks to prevent the march.

The ASP told the court that Hirunika Premachandra had counter-protested by obstructing the duties of police officers, and as she is a woman she had used it as an advantage in previous instances where she embraced police officers who oppose protests and inconvenienced them.

He said the group that performed the street play were dressed in clothing similar to military attire.

The ASP also noted that 10 female suspects were arrested and moved to the Cinnamon Gardens Police, and thereafter they decided to sit down opposite the police station, once again obstructing the duties of the police officers.

He requested for the suspects to be remanded, as there were other suspects who needed to be arrested.

Counsel appearing for the suspects noted that the street play only depicted the plight of women in Sri Lanka.

Counsel also said that police officers obstructed the duties of the lawyers who appeared for the women, when their statements were being recorded at the Cinnamon Gardens Police.

The counsel appearing for the suspects also noted that the recent conduct of a Police Inspector showed the world how Sri Lanka Police treat women, and noted that the conduct of Sri Lanka Police is far worse than what is witnessed in Mozambique.

A group of lawyers including Rajith Lakmal, Gunaratne Wanninayake, and Athula Ranagala appeared for the suspects.

The Fort Magistrate’s Court has issued an order to record a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the Rs. 18 million in cash that was found by anti-government protesters at the President’s House in Fort.

Following mass protests in July, several anti-government protesters stormed the President’s Official residence in Fort and found nearly Rs. 17.8 million in cash.

The cash was thereafter, counted and handed over to officers of the Fort Police Station by the protesters.

However, Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage today issued an order to the Police to record a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in this regard.

The magistrate also instructed the Police to conduct an investigation into the matter.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the process of building a new economy suitable for the modern world would be started through the budget proposals for next year.

He proposed the setting up of a presidential task force to carry out monitoring functions to expedite implementation of all these proposals.

Presenting budget 2023 for the second reading in parliament today (14) in his capacity as the minister of finance, the president said, “I request all of you to join and support the journey of bringing positive change in the country through these budget proposals.”

“We are taking these suggestions as background, let's prepare a new economic base. Let's come to a common consensus and create a national economic policy framework. Let’s implement that policy framework for the next 25 years.”

“Every 5 years we can review our progress. Through such a review, we get the opportunity to further develop the policies that can make our journey towards our goal successful.”

“The sectoral committees can play a big role when the budget proposals that I have presented are implemented through government officials. The finance committees can effectively intervene in the exercise of reducing public expenditure.”

“Is the long-term development of a country based on popular decisions? Or the right decisions? In many cases, popular decisions were taken instead of correct decisions in our country. Even today many people make popular decisions.”

The president also said, “These young people hope for a better day. Hope for a good country. A new approach, a new program that goes beyond traditional political methods such as agitations, struggles and strikes is expected.”

Bodu Bala Sena general secretary Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera has been acquitted from a charge of disrupting duties of the police.

The Colombo magistrate’s court today (11) ended the hearing due to the continuing absence of the prosecuting side’s witness.

The case related to an incident that took place in front of the temple in Rajagiriya, where Gnanasara Thera reside

Former MP and the national organizer of the Samagi Vanitha Balavegaya (SVB), Hirunika Premachandra has been arrested following a protest in Colombo.

The Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya had engaged in a demonstration calling to end violence against women in view of “the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” which is commemorated in November.

Speaking to the media, former MP Hirunika Premachandra said that a stage play-based demonstration had been organized to be conducted in front of the UN Office in Colombo today to highlight incidents of violence against women in Sri Lanka.

She said, however, the Police had blocked their protest march, which commenced from Independence Square, near the President’s private residence in Colombo 07.

The Police had also arrested two of the demonstrators, which had resulted in a tense situation.

Thereafter, the remaining protesters, including Hirunika Premachandra, launched a fresh protest in front of the Cinnamon Gardens Police, calling on all the protesters to be arrested together.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Thursday (10) ordered for the converner of the Inter-University Student's Federation Wasantha Mudalige to be produced to a Magistrate immediately.

In addition, the Supreme Court also ordered for Mudalige to be produced to the Judicial Medical Officer of the Karapitiya Hospital.

Wasantha Mudalige is being detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for 90-days, and the orders were made when a Fundamental Rights application challenging his detention was taken up on Thursday (10).

The application was called up in the presence of Justices Vijith Malalgoda, and S. Thurairajah who ordered for the examination of the FR petition to commence on the 31st of January 2023.

The petitioner in the application is Wasantha Mudalige, and President's Counsel Saliya Peiris appeared for him in the Supreme Court.

Young activist Nirmanli Liyanage has passed away.

She has reportedly died due to a sudden heart attack in a private hospital in Colombo.

Nirmanli Liyanage was in her mid thirties when she passed away shockingly.

She had also participated in a citizen talk discussion which was posted on her Facebook page yesterday

Nirmanli Liyanage played a key role in establishing the Citizens Forum at the historic GotaGoGama protest site and worked tirelessly to educate Citizens about their rights and the democratic processes earlier this year.

Many activists had posted on social media expressing their condolences over the sudden death of a young talented activist.

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department will conduct investigations on all complaints related to ragging, announced Sri Lanka Police on Thursday (10).

Sri Lanka Police said that the Chief of Police had ordered the CID to conduct future investigations concerning three separate complaints on ragging as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Sri Lanka Police said that a second-year student from the University of Kelaniya was assaulted by three students from a union and the victim had filed a complaint with the Kiribathgoda Police.

In addition, six fellow students who are said to have instructed the aforementioned students to file the complaint had been detained at the student dormitory, questioned and beaten by another group of students, and a complaint on the matter was filed with the Kiribathgoda Police, said a statement from Sri Lanka Police.

Further, a complaint has been filed with the Peradeniya Police over committing ragging by directing pornographic material to a student at the University of Peradeniya via social media.

Sri Lanka Police said that the Inspector General of Police had instructed all senior officers that the CID will conduct investigations on future complaints on ragging, and police stations are required to forward such complaints to the CID.

The 2023 budget aimed at long-term, stable economic growth to be presented to Parliament tomorrow

President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance will present the 2023 budget to Parliament tomorrow (14) aimed at creating long-term, stable economic growth.

The 2023 budget has given special attention to the sectors of capital market, export market, labour market and digital economy and it is expected to achieve the budget targets through the social market economy.

This year’s budget will focus more on providing social welfare benefits to the people who need them most and creating a policy environment to build the private sector as the driving force of the country’s economy.

Through the 2023 budget, the process of building a new economy tailored for the new world has been initiated aimed at creating a program to ensure a decent country for the youth.

Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka recalled that Faris Hadad-Zervos, the World Bank (WB) Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was amazed with the action policy and the vision of President Ranil Wickremesinghe which was revealed during their meeting recently.

Ratnayaka said the President's vision for the country includes some measures that go beyond what the International Monetary Fund or World Bank has stipulated. "His vision is actually far ahead than this sphere," he said, adding that the WB Country Director also expressed his willingness to support the President’s vision.

He emphasized the importance of getting everyone together to work hard on developing the road map and sticking to the timelines to get the best final report at the end of the next two weeks.

He noted that this is the best opportunity for the country to stabilize economically, to have a solid policy framework and to go into the road map that is needed. “As a country, we have that potential and request everyone to make maximum use of it,” Ratnayaka added.

Ratnayaka made these remarks while speaking at the World Bank Budget support and Development Policy Operation (DPO) Preparatory Mission kick-off meeting between the government officials and the members of the World Bank which took place this morning (08) at the Presidential Secretariat.

While thanking the WB team, State Minister Semasinghe said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe is committed to ensure the stabilization of the country's economy and the President has taken very difficult decisions to revive the economy.

They discussed Development Policy Operations, which provides direct budget support to governments for policy and institutional reforms, and is aimed at achieving a set of specific development results. These operations were designed under three pillars such as transforming economic governance, enhancing growth & competitiveness and protecting the poor and vulnerable to provide rapid financial assistance to allow Sri Lanka to deal with actual or anticipated development financing requirements.

Lengthy discussions were held with WB team on the areas of debt management and transparency, fiscal oversight, tax administration policy, public procurement transparency and value for money, sever the sovereign-financial sector nexus, improve stewardship of the financial sector and reduce systemic risk, reform and enhance oversights of SOEs, reduce the anti-export bias of national tariff policy and elite capture, eliminate barriers to foreign investment, make energy and transport sector less dependent on imported fuels and more climate friendly, and strengthen social protection institutions, delivery systems, and targeting.

State Minister of Social Empowerment Women’s and Children Affairs Anupa Pasqual, Country Manager of the World Bank Chiyo Kanda and the members of the World Bank team and the officials of the line institutions of the relevant ministries were also present at this discussion.

The Director General of the Police Special Investigations Unit has been ordered by the Inspector General of Police to conduct a special probe regarding the activities of the Chief Police Inspector of Panadura South Police.

The IGP has ordered to conduct a special probe with regard to the incident in which a female Police officer was grabbed by the neck and manhandled by a male officer while enroute to arrest several female protestors involved in a mothers' protest march in Panadura on Saturday (12).

Police Media Spokesperson SSP Nihal Talduwa pointed out that the Police respects the rights enshrined in the Constitution, which ensures the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression.

Moreover, he stressed that the Police continously emphasize on protecting the rights of women, and the special probe will also focus on whether the female Police officer was wronged in this regard.

Future action will be taken in accordance with the recommendations made by the Director of the Special Investigations Unit, SSP Thalduwa added.

The system failure at the Immigration and Emigration Department has been restored.

Passport services will re-commence as usual from Wednesday (9), said Immigration and Emigration spokesperson Piyumi Bandara.

The Department of Immigration and Emigration earlier announced that there is a delay in issuing passports on Tuesday (8) due to a system issue.

Immigration and Emigration spokesperson Piyumi Bandara told News 1st that the department has suspended accepting applications for passports, adding that the system is being restored.