Court permits Dhammaloka Thera to go abroad

Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera whose passport was impounded by Court as part of an indictment filed by the Attorney General over an alleged offence of possessing an elephant without a valid license was on Tuesday temporally permitted to travel abroad by Colombo High Court.

Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera through his lawyers had requested Colombo High Court Judge Sampath Wijeratne that his passport be released for a six week period since he wants to several countries in order to attend in a Dhamma sermon program.

Accordingly, Dhammaloka Thera was permitted to go abroad and his passport was ordered to be released until September 20 by High Court.

The Attorney General (AG) had filed an indictment against Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera on two counts for allegedly possessing a baby elephant without a valid licence.

The indictment has been filed over two counts under Section 22 (12) of the Fauna and Flora Protection (Amendment) Act, No.22 of 2009 and Section 5(3) (a) of Public Property Act.

The Attorney General had named 19 persons as witnesses in the case and three documents as production items in the case. Wild Life Department officials had taken into custody a two-and-half-year-old elephant calf which was found inside the the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda on January 28, 2015.

The Attorney General maintained that Ven. Dhammaloka Thera had illegally possessed a stolen property, a baby elephant without a valid licence, an offence comes under the Fauna and Flora (Amendment)Act.

The Attorney General further alleged that the accused had also committed a punishable offence comes under the Public Property Act since he had intentionally kept a baby elephant without a valid licence.

The Attorney General alleged that the accused had committed this offence on or around January 28, 2015 with the Colombo High Court’s jurisdiction.