Case against Dadakeliya dismissed

Roshan THUSHARA

Colombo Chief District Judge Ranjith N Wathupola, on Monday, dismissed the case against the book 'Dadakeliya' which was based on the Adline Vitharana murder case of the 1950s and ruled that the contents of the book did not cause any insult or injury to late Adline Vitharana's daughter or any other party.

Mangalika Atapattu, the daughter of late Adline Vitharana, has filed this case claiming Rs 3 million as damages from Editor Newton Gunasekara of the book Dadakeliya and its publisher Dayawansa Jayakody and Company, alleging that the contents of the book had portrayed her late mother Adline Vitharana as a woman of loose character which had brought illfame to her children including herself. She had further prayed that court impose a ban on the said book.

The Judge delivering his judgement further said, 'Dadakeliya' was a high quality literary creation done by the author utilising his own thinking powers. Hearing in this case began in 2008 and an interim injunction was issued preventing the printing and sale of the book until the final determination of the case.

The Judge said he would dismiss the case as the book was an exemplary novel based on the murder of Adline Vitharana caused by Jayalal Anandagoda at Wilpattu during the latter part of the 1950s.