Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis yesterday observed that the words used by social media activist Sepal Amarasinghe over the recent controversial and derogatory statements about the ‘Sacred Tooth Relic’, fall into the offences under section 3(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act.
Delivering the order, the Magistrate further observed that there is no jurisdiction to a Magistrate court to grant bail when there is an offence under the ICCPR Act, but the High Court has power to grant bail to the suspect.
Amarasinghe was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department for making defamatory comments regarding the Sacred Tooth relic.
The Magistrate allowed the Criminal Investigations Department to record a statement from the suspect, while he was in remand custody. The Magistrate made this order pursuant to a request made by the Criminal Investigations Department. The Magistrate ordered that the suspect be remanded till January 31.
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