The Magistrate’s order on the Attorney General’s application for the appointment of an expert panel to conduct the post mortem examinations of the inmates who were killed in the Mahara Prison riot was reserved for tomorrow (December 09).

Eleven inmates died in the recent violent events at the Mahara Prison and 08 of them have been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection posthumously.

The Attorney General’s Department today (08) requested the Wattala Magistrate’s Court to allow the postmortem examinations of the inmates deceased in the Mahara Prison riot to be conducted under a multidisciplinary expert committee.

The request was made when the relevant legal action was called by a motion this afternoon.

While the legal action related to the recent incident at the Mahara Prison was scheduled to be called on December 11, the relevant legal action was called on before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court this afternoon following a motion filed by the complainants.

State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne appeared before the court on behalf of the Attorney General’s Department following a request made by DIG Ajith Rohana for the assistance of a State Counsel to proceed with the case.

The State Counsel pointed out to the court that the bodies of the COVID-19 infected inmates should be cremated under the quarantine laws.

However, the State Counsel requested the court to allow a panel of multidisciplinary experts to conduct post-mortem examinations on the bodies, as per a request made by the legal counsel of the aggrieved party requested for a fair autopsy.

She further informed the court that the Director-General of Health Services has already nominated 03 Judicial Medical Officers (JMO) for the panel and that the Government Analyst’s Department has proposed the name of an expert on firearms to be appointed to the panel.

Stating that there is no objection for the postmortems to be carried out under an expert panel, the lawyers of the aggrieved party requested the court for a university professor to be included in the panel. 

However, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne objected to the request, stating that the Director-General of Health Services does not have the legal capacity to nominate a university professor for the multidisciplinary expert panel.

Subsequently, it was agreed by both parties to nominate a doctor from the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology to the panel.

The court directed that the names of all the members of the panel be submitted to the court tomorrow.