Colombo High Court Judge Manjula Tilakaratne yesterday (23) dismissed an appeal filed by General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera against a nine-month prison term and a fine of Rs. 1,500 imposed on him by the Colombo Magistrate’s court on 09 January, 2025.

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court sentenced him after finding him guilty of disrupting communal harmony by insulting Islam.

Colombo HC Judge Tilakaratne rejected an appeal filed by Gnanasara Thera seeking his acquittal and release from the sentence delivered by the Colombo Magistrate court.

The Police had filed a case against Gnanasara Thera, under the Penal Code, for allegedly insulting Islam during a press conference held at Kirulapone, in 2016.

The High Court Judge declared that issuing statements in a manner that breached religious harmony constituted an unlawful act. The Judge stated that preventing such actions is a responsibility of both the law and the judicial process. The High Court Judge observed that the decision taken by the Colombo Additional Magistrate to convict and sentence the accused was not contrary to the law.

The counsel for Ven. Gnanasara said they would appeal against the High Court decision.

The government expects to complete the process of returning gold jewellery, recovered from former LTTE camps, to their rightful owners, within the next three months, Deputy Defence Minister Major General (retd.) Aruna Jayasekera informed Parliament yesterday.

Responding to a series of questions raised by Jaffna District MP S. Sritharan regarding gold recovered during the final stages of the war, Jayasekera said that nearly 150 kg of gold jewellery had been recovered by security forces during military operations in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

The Deputy Minister said the recovered items had remained under Army custody following their detection and that efforts were underway to return them to their legitimate owners through a legally supervised process.

He noted that the Army did not possess records identifying the original owners of the jewellery, making the verification process both complex and time-consuming. As a result, ownership claims must be established through documentary evidence and other forms of proof before the items can be released.

Jayasekera said the matter was currently being examined by a number of state institutions, including the courts, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the National Gem and Jewellery Authority and the Central Bank to ensure that the gold is returned to rightful claimants in a transparent and lawful manner.

The Deputy Minister revealed that a portion of the gold, recovered from LTTE-controlled areas, had already been returned to owners, in 2014, under the previous administration. The remaining stock would also be distributed once the ongoing judicial procedures are concluded.

He assured Parliament that the government was committed to completing the process expeditiously while safeguarding the rights of legitimate owners and maintaining compliance with all legal requirements.

By Saman Indrajith

SJB trade unionist Ananda Palitha has alleged that the Kolonnawa refinery cannot produce Octane 92 using American crude WTI (West Texas Intermediate). In a bid to overcome that challenge, the CPC has used Murban crude, produced in the UAE, with American crude, but had not still been able to produce Octane 92, Palitha said.

The production of Octane 92 at the Kolonnawa refinery has been stopped, according to Palitha, a former CPC employee.