TRINCOMALEE : The Young Lawyers’ Association ,YLA, has requested the Judicial Service Commission to conduct an impartial inquiry into the allegations against the Government and the Attorney General which has been circulated in the media following the resignation of the Mulaiteevu Judge .
The letter reads : “ Mullaiteevu District and its people have been the subject of a bloody war which has killed thousands and disappeared thousands more. Families of the disappeared await truth and justice. Tamil farmers await to return to their lands. Truth, justice and accountability continues to remain a distant dream for communities impacted by the war and racial tensions. Therefore, as legal professionals we become duty bound to ensure that the structures created by the State to grant justice to people functions with integrity and independence from interference from the perpetrators. It is in this context that we urge the Judicial Service Commission to act expeditiously and reveal the truth to the legal community and society in the interest of protecting the judiciary and judicial functions in the long run. Executive Committee
The jurisdiction of the Mullaiteevu judge has become a place of contentious judicial, legal and political battle ground due to the Kurunthur Malai incident and the excavation of a mass grave consisting of what appears to be the remains of LTTE cardres.
The Mullaiteevu Magistrate’s Office has come under direct threat from Member of Parliament Sarath Weerasekara who identified the Magistrate as a ‘Tamil’ Judge who is making orders inside a ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ State. Despite condemning statements by the BASL and Lawyers’ Collective and protests by Bars across the North and the East the pressure seemed to have continued on the judge in performing his judicial duties independently.
It is in this background a resignation letter said to be signed by the Mullaiteevu Magistrate/ District Judge T. Saravanarajah was circulated in the media on Friday . The said letter read that Justice Saravanarajah has tendered his resignation due to ‘threat’ to his life and due to ‘lot of stress’.”