Interim injunction on Prasanna Vithanage’s “Usaviya Nihadai”
October 5, 2016 01:56 pm
The Colombo District Court has issued an interim injunction against the screening of ‘Usaviya Nihadai’ (Silence in the Courts), a documentary film by award winning film director Prasanna Vithanage.
Colombo District Judge M.U. Gunawardena issued the order effective until October 19, when a petition filed against the film by former Magistrate Lenin Ratnayake was taken up for hearing today.
The petitioner states that the film is based on a false news report which claims that he had sexually assaulted a woman and that the movie is scheduled to be screened at theaters starting from tomorrow (6).
Therefore the former magistrate requested the court to issue an order preventing the screening of the film as it would cause defame to him and the country’s judicial system.
After considering the fact presented, the district court issued an interim injunction effective until October 19.
The 57-minute documentary, screened last week at the India International Centre, Delhi, is based on the incident in June 1996 where a sitting Judicial Magistrate had allegedly sexually assaulted a woman.
