Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis yesterday (18) sentenced a young man who pleaded guilty before the Court to the charge of publishing false news through social media regarding the spread of the pandemic Covid-19 at that time, to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour suspended for five years.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had filed this case against the suspect, alleging that in March 2020 he had released a false story on the internet referring to the Rajapaksa family in relation to Covid-19, which had caused difficulty to the people and the Government.
The suspect, who pleaded guilty before the Court, stated that this was not a story he had created, but a story shared between 14,239 people.
The Magistrate, who considered the relevant facts, sentenced the young suspect to six months of hard labour suspended for five years.
Siranjani Kumari
