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by L. I. Keerthisinghe, Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

'We as judges of this land must take the lead from our departed friend and colleague, that no bullets of any calibre, knives of any depth, clubs of any weight, shall ever deter us from taking the exalted and well traversed path to do justice for all those who come before us.' - Rohini Perera J, Secretary of the High Court Judges Association.

The police - essential for law and order

The above mentioned forthright words of Rohini Perera, Judge of the High Court of Colombo, stated in her radiant oration delivered at the funeral of late Justice Sarath Ambepitiya, in essence epitomizes the values and the principles held sacred by the judiciary of our land at all times.

It was also said in the same oration that 'The first principle in judging is the maintenance of the Rule of Law. The maintenance of the Rule of Law requires both erudition and fortitude. The judge must both be learned and must be unflinching in the fair and equitable dispensation of justice.'

Irresponsible statements regarding the judiciary made without thought at public meetings by politicians would erode the public confidence and the respect for the judiciary. Any responsible person should refrain from making such unnecessary comments, which would not serve the public interest.

Even if such statements were to be made it is the duty of responsible media be it print or electronic, to refrain from publicizing such ridiculous comments made without consideration for their effect on the greater public interest, as such publicizing could erode the respect of the public for the judiciary.

Protests have been made by human rights activists regarding the re-activation of the death penalty, but these activists should also consider the supreme violation of the right to life of all those who become victims of such horrible crimes at the hands of heartless criminals, such as those who assassinated Justice Sarath Ambepitiya and Inspector of Police R. A. Upali, who was performing his official functions, mercilessly.

Those who appeal for mercy should also be merciful. Unfortunately, there appear to be persons born in human form, who are inhuman in their actions. Such persons cannot lay claim to the rights of a human being as by their very conduct they forfeit their right to such claims. A person who takes another's life after executing a premeditated plan, without any enmity or any wrongdoing against such person on the part of the victim, constitutes a grave threat to society.

This does not mean that murder in any form should be condoned. The law provides the necessary safeguards to persons who commit murders due to sudden and grave provocation etc. Some very gruesome murders have been committed in this country after the de-activation of the death penalty such as those of Saddepa Lakshan, an innocent child murdered in the course of an extortion attempt, Rita John, murdered brutally after a gang rape, Hokandara rape incidents and murders, Frazer Avenue murders and more recently the murder of a mercantile executive in the presence of his wife and child to rob the luxury vehicle presented to him in appreciation of his hard work by his company etc.

It is said that the wife of the victim has been unable to speak due to the shock received in witnessing the said murder. What do the human rights activists say about the human rights of the victims of the said murders? Do they say that they regret these dastardly acts but the right to life of the brutal inhuman murderers should be protected, in order that such murderers could have the freedom to roam about in society after serving a few years in prison in order to repeat such dastardly acts? It is time that such human rights activists learn to hold the scales of justice evenly in their hands as judges do.

Justice demands that punishment should be commensurate with the offence. Experience in the past has shown that reformation and rehabilitation is not possible of habitual killers with brutal instincts. Serial killings are an example of such inhuman instincts.

Although Sri Lanka is a country nurtured in the noble Buddhist traditions of forbearance and compassion, it is well-known that even during the times of the Sinhala kings deterrent punishments of a most terrible nature were meted out to criminals.

It has been said that during those times a lady wearing all the gold ornaments could walk from one city to another without any harm\befalling her. In the present times a lady wearing a gold chain cannot walk on the road for a short distance without some drug addict or such person grabbing her simple gold chain, which may be her only valuable possession.

For law and order to prevail the criminal justice system in this country should be reformed to deliver swift and deterrent punishments to heartless criminals. A protection procedure should be put in place to protect the witnesses of terrible crimes, such as those found in the United States where the witnesses are even given refuge abroad subsequent to changing their identities so as to prevent identification by those seeking revenge.

When the criminal who is convicted due to the evidence given by any witness is a member of an organized underworld gang or a terrorist group, the remaining members of such gangs and groups are bound to take revenge from informants and witnesses in order to deter anyone, who may engage in such activities against such gangs or groups in the future. In the recent past several such informants have been murdered in this country.

Even if an attractive reward such as the reward offered in the case of the assassination of Justice Ambepitiya were to be offered, the in formants would be in fear of their lives to come forward in the present situation, in the absence of effective witness protection procedures in place.

The investigative procedures in the Police Department should be brought up to-date with the introduction of modern technological tools presently being used in such work in advanced countries. Police personnel should be given advanced training in such investigative work. It would be ridiculous to blame the Police for inefficiency in such investigations without the provision of the necessary advanced technological tools and trained personnel by the State.

Fear of punishment in applications for violations of fundamental rights made by criminal elements against police personnel has become a deterrent in such investigations, some of which have come to a standstill due to such frivolous applications. In the writer's opinion, such applications should be viewed in a proper perspective taking into consideration the greater public interest and safety in delivering judgements in such cases.

Imperfection is a human trait. Human beings in all walks of life be it he clergy or the judiciary, the legal, medical or engineering professions or any other are prone to such imperfections. The erosion of public confidence and respect for the judiciary by unnecessary and unwarranted publications and utterances is not in the public interest and should be avoided at all costs.

Those who make such publications and utterances would be contributing to the contempt for the Rule of Law in this country thereby bringing about the decay of spiritual and moral values of our society, which would finally affect the lives of all the members of our society.

Such critics should do well to remember the words of Lord Denning, a great English judge, as stated above that 'All we would ask is that those who criticize us will remember that, from the nature of our office, we cannot reply to their criticisms. We cannot enter into public controversy.

Respect cannot be gained by demand. As the Buddha said in the Wasala Sutta :Noone is born as a wasala (a lowly person) or a brahmana (a highly respected person), but by one's own conduct one would be regarded as a wasala or a brahmana.' A person should command respect for other human beings by such person's exemplary conduct'.

Lord Denning's word stated above with reference to the judiciary that 'We must rely on our conduct itself to be its own vindication' become relevant in this regard. It is also equally relevant to note the words of Christ when He said in the case of Mary Magdalene 'Any person who has not sinned may cast the stone' as people were getting ready to kill the sinner by stoning. Everyone turned away as there were none who have not sinned.

When criticizing others it would do well to look into one's own self first as no man (or woman) is infallible.

As a legal practitioner, who has appeared before judges of both the superior and lower courts of this land, for whom the writer has the highest regard and respect, it is the writer's personal experience that the dispensation of justice by the judiciary of this country is both fair and equitable to a very large extent.

Any person aggrieved by a judgement of a lower court has the safeguard of the right of appeal to a higher court. It is unfortunate that the assassins of Justice Ambepitiya, who may have been motivated by an adverse judgement, did not realize that all his judgements were appealable as there are rights of appeal to the Court of Appeal and thence to the Supreme Court from a judgement of a Provincial High Court. Any criticism should be constructive and not destructive.

Such criticism should not amount to a contempt of court. Even the freedom of expression has its constraints. lawyers are friends of the court (amicus curiae), who bear a bounden duty by the court to show proper respect for the judiciary at all times in their career. Bowing to the judges/judge on the bench when entering and leaving a Court in session is an age-old tradition among lawyers, which practice strengthens the respect of the public for the judiciary.

With the unfortunate, untimely and tragic demise of Justice Ambepitiya, who dispensed justice at all time without fear or favour, which has been described as the first such incident in Asia, the people of this country have been confronted with the stark reality of the impact that such an event could have on civilized society.

The people have been undivided in condemning the dastardly act, which will be etched in our legal history as the most unfortunate incident ever to have occurred.

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