VIDEO: When journalists are assaulted I visit them in Hospital

I am not the Defence Minister and as the Defence Minister the President has directed the Inspector General to look into the legal matters of the crimes involving the media, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella stated.

Addressing a media gathering held today in Colombo, he stated that as the Media Minister his role was to visit those in hospital whenever such an incident took place and also to bring king coconut for them. He jokingly added that king coconut was equal to saline.

He made these statements in reply to a question put forward by a journalist regarding police inaction on crimes against the media as well as what steps were being taken regarding the solving of these cases.

I cannot take the law into my hands and I cannot tell the Police to bring the culprits to justice tomorrow, he claimed, adding that there is a long legal process which needs to be followed in such cases.

The Minister stated that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has publicly requested witnesses to come forward and give any information regarding these cases because no legal case can move forward without evidence being proven.

Answering another question, Minister Rambukwella said that in comparison to the number of crimes against the media there is around 500 times the amount of unsolved robberies in the country which never gets discussed.

He added that sometimes it takes up to ten years to solve one of these cases and assured that all of them are being investigated.