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| Saturday, 10 November 2001 |
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Police witnesses absent: Several accused discharged The accused in several house breaking, theft and vice cases were discharged in the Kandy Magistrate's court during the second fortnight of October as police witnesses were absent and police had failed to forward the productions in vice cases to the Government Analyst. The prosecuting officers told court that police witnesses were absent as they are on duty in operational areas. Policemen had failed to forward the productions to the Government Analyst as most of them were on special duties. The prosecuting officers also told court that they will make arrangements to forward the productions to the Government Analyst as early as possible and bring the police witnesses to court on the next inquiry date. Kandy Magistrate D.L.M. Seniviratne discharging the accused said that most of the cases were filed in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and inquiries in these cases had been postponed on several occasions as police witnesses had failed to appear in court on inquiry dates. He also said that prosecuting officers had led preliminary evidence in vice cases in 1999 and 2000 and the productions in these cases were still lying in the record room of the court. Heavy fines Two young men were fined Rs. 20,000 each by the Kandy Magistrate D.L.M. Seniviratne when they pleaded guilty to selling government arrack on a Poya Day. H.M. Amarasinghe Banda and R.P.S. Sunil both of Hantane, Kandy were charged with selling government arrack in a licensed beer shop in Kandy town on a Poya Day. Both pleaded guilty to the charge. IP Lal Seniviratne, OIC, Central Range Vice Squad informed court that there were 32 bottles of arrack and 309 empty arrack bottles in the case and moved that they be confiscated. The Magistrate confiscated the bottles of arrack and empty arrack bottles. Prevention of Hepatitis B in Sri Lanka Hepatitis B is a common virus all over the world.It is 100 times more infectious than HIV and much more resilient. In a bid to prevent a further spread of this disease, the Health Ministry plans to give the Hepatitis B vaccine free to all infants by the year 2003 by including Hepatitis B in the National Immunisation Program in Sri Lanka. According to statistics, the prevalence of Hepatitis B in Sri Lanka is estimated to affect less than 2 per cent of the population. Patients in the age group of 15 to 20 are fatally infected annually. Sri Lanka is unique among developing countries in terms of the prevalence of Hepatitis B and enjoys a status similar to that of a developed country, says Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Venereologist and Consultant to the Ministry of Science and Technology. It is estimated that more than one third of the world's population has at some time been infected with the HBV.It is also estimated that there are about 350 million chronic carriers of this virus while 25 per cent of them will die prematurely of liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. |
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