Court grants bail to Thewarapperuma and others

Deputy Minister Palitha Thewarapperuma and twelve others including nine mothers who were arrested on charge of unlawful assembly have been released on bail, Ada Derana reporter said.

The suspects were released after being produced before the Matugama Magistrate this afternoon (07).

Earlier police arrested the mothers of 9 students who were allegedly forcibly enrolled into the Grade One class of the Meegahatenna primary school.  

The arrested mothers were among the parents who recently staged a protest along with the Deputy Minister demanding that 10 students be given admission to the school.  

However, the agitation and subsequent protest fast culminated with the deputy minister attempting suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan within the school premises. Both the deputy minister and the Principal of the school were hospitalised shortly afterwards.   

A group of parents staged a protest against the deputy minister the following day accusing him of exerting undue pressure on the school’s principal and forcibly enrolling the students.   

The mothers in question were taken into custody by police when they accompanied their children to school on July 5.