The warm of the incident at Mahara Prison is still within us. No justice has been done to the deaths of 107 detainees and 11 deaths. Everything is still under investigation.
However, the interim report of the five-member committee appointed by Justice Minister Ali Sabri to look into the incident was handed over to the Minister recently.
It was clearly stated that the protest was justified. The reasons given were the spread of Covid 19 among the inmates, prison congestion, food problem, drinking water problem, non-granting of bail and non-release from prison.
The report further stated that none of the inmates had guns and that only prison officials had used gun.
The CID is currently conducting investigations into the incident and has seized about 53 firearms used by prison officials during the incident, according to the Police Media Spokesman, DIG Ajith Rohana.
An expert opinion on these firearms will be obtained in the future. However, the CID has so far obtained 544 statements regarding the incident. Among them are prison inmates, officers, doctors, nurses and police officers who went to the security that day.
The post-mortem examination revealed that four bodies had died due to gunshot wounds.
Meanwhile, Athula Kumara, a resident of Nilpanagoda, Minuwangoda was also among the dead detainees. He was remanded in custody on a drug charge and was later released on bail by his wife.
However, she has alleged that he was not released by the prison and that he too had died in a recent clash at the prison and that the prison officials were responsible for this.