News

Justice Minister suggests abolition of all Kandyan, Thesawalamai and Muslim laws through new Constitution

Published

6 years ago

2021/02/15

By Saman Indrajith

Making use of personal laws prevailing in a country at present to attack a single community would not be approved by any civilized nation, Justice Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament yesterday.

“It is so unfortunate that practices of those laws have become a tagline or a slogan for campaigns intended to raise hatred and disharmony among communities,” the Minister said.

Responding to a series of questions raised by Our Power of People’s Party National List MP Ven Aturaliye Ratana Thera, Minister Sabry said that personal laws in the country had evolved over centuries. The One Law One Country concept of the government was being implemented in spirit and in letter to promote the Sri Lankan national identity, the Minister said.

“There are several personal laws in this country. Among them are the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act, the Jaffna Thesawalamai Law, the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, the Buddhist Temporalities Act and the Church of Ceylon Act. The Muslim law has been recognised as a personal law in many other countries, including India, the Philippines, Israel and Singapore. The Muslim laws are not solely made on the basis of the Quran. It was first recognised as the Mohammadan Code among other personal laws such as the Kandyan Law and the Theswalamai law in 1806. Thereafter, these laws evolved with time. For example, until 1938 amendments to the Kandyan law polyandry and polygamy were accepted in law. It is asked whether the Muslim law permits the marrying off of underage Muslim girls without their consent. This is not true. Such marriages are registered with their consent and only their fathers place their signature on registration documents on their behalf too after ascertaining the consent of the girl. In some states in the US the minimum age for marriage is 13, while in some provinces in Japan it is 15. Until 1997, here in Sri Lanka, that age was 16 years. According to Sections 8 to 15 of the Kandyan Law and the Section 22 of the Marriage Ordinance an underage marriage is accepted if the marrying children have the consent of their parents. There had been many such mismatches in the law until the Court intervened in 2002 and gave an order that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years. Even in Saudi Arabia the minimum age of marriage is 18 now. We too have accepted that the minimum age of marriage should be set 18. I submitted a Cabinet paper in Nov 2020 to that effect. There I have also proposed the amending of the laws enabling females to act as Quazi judges and that the females getting married should place their signature in the registration documents. In addition, I have set up an advisory committee to amend Muslim laws and when their recommendations are ready they will be announced to the community so that people too could submit their proposals. We will consider all of them in amending the laws. I am against the marriages under the age of 18. There is also another fact that around 80 percent of underage mothers are not reported from the Muslim community but from other communities. That means they have become mothers even if their marriages are not registered.”

Minister Sabry said that achieving one law one country could not be achieved by doing away with personal laws of Muslim community only; there was the possibility of abolishing all personal laws at once and that could be done through the new Constitution being drafted, he added.

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Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations

Published

7 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

Suresh Sallay

The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.

Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.

The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses

will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”

In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125

News

Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area

Published

7 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.

The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.

News

Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.

Published

7 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.

Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.

The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.

The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.