Sarath Ambepitiya - 'the perfect Voet Inner'

On March 31st, members of the Voet Inn Association and the present day Voet Inners will gather in Voet Inn to unveil a portrait of the late Voet Inner Sarath Ambepitiya, the High Court Judge of Colombo assassinated on November 19, 2004. Late Judge's immediate family has been invited to attend this commemorative function which is a first of its kind in Voet Inn history.

Voet Inn is the name bestowed by the Council of Legal Education to the Law hostel established in May 1949 to accommodate law students of the Ceylon Law College. Voet Inn is a hybrid word coined by the Council combining the names of Roman Dutch Jurist Johannes Voet and British Inns of courts.

Since 1949, over thousand legal and judicial luminaries, spread around the island, have passed through the portals of Voet Inn. Voet Inn Association is the network of past Voet Inners established in 1986 to foster and sustain close friendship between past and present day Voet Inners.

Late High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya was a Voet Inner from 1974 until he passed out as an Attorney-at-Law in 1978. He was a founder member of the Voet Inn Association and at the time of his assassination he was the trustee of the Association.

He participated in all the activities of the Association helping the young Voet inners to develop competency and ethical standard as lawyers.

He was a symbol of correct judicial temperament and discretion. Only occasions he relaxed were when he was with his Voet Inn friends and participated in numerous excursions visiting outstation Voet Inners.

The last trip he participated in was a Voet Inn trip to Kalutara in August 2004 on the occasion of the donation of a new football stadium to the public by Voet Inner, Manilal Fernando. late Judge was accompanied on this trip by Inspector Upali who too was assassinated along with the Judge.

The assassination of a High Court Judge in his own car port when returning from court is unprecedented in the judicial history of this country. The entire nation grieved at his death and the legal community, judges, lawyers and court staff attended his funeral in unprecedented numbers.

The funeral oration delivered by High Court Judge Rohini Perera was heart rending and poignant where she said, "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 came before us".

Late Judge Sarath Ambepitiya was respected as a fearless, courageous and an independent judge. He had pronounced judgements in cases where powerful and vindictive persons were charged. He treated everyone equally according to law. He never allowed his personal prejudices to influence his judgments.

Did he die in vain? Has the protection of Sri Lankan judges improved as a result of his supreme sacrifice? Certain important steps, however inadequate, have been taken to provide greater physical protection to judges.

As a knee jerk reaction to the judge's assassination, the controversial death sentence, implementation of which was suspended for years was promised to be reimposed. But is that enough? What about arresting the trend to "kill" the image and credibility of the judiciary by unrestrained, generalized criticism of the judges. We should remember that generalized attacks affect the judiciary and judicial independence.

The judges have no means of public defense. They cannot furnish affidavits denying allegations or give media interviews defending their conduct or judgements.

They cannot file cases for defamation. When generalized criticism emanate from the privileged, the judes' predicament becomes even worse. If the judges are guilty of misconduct there are judicial and constitutional provisions to deal with them.

On their part, judges should also be considerate in making judicial strictures from the Bench as targets of such strictures are also defenceless. However, if we do not protect our judges both physically and institutionally, the ultimate casualty would be the entire justice system and the Rule of Law.

Voet Inners, wherever they are, will do what they can to ensure that their fellow Voet Inner, High Court Judge Sarath Ambepetiya did not die in vain.

- S.S. Wijeratne