The clash at the Mahara prison is just a month away. However, the bodies of several detainees who were shot and injured in the clash are still in the freezer. That is because they have not yet had the right to be buried in their own land.
The government at the time attempted to cremate the bodies of 11 inmates who had died after the Mahara prison riots, citing the Covid epidemic. But the relatives of the deceased detainees opposed it and the Committee for the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights stood up for them.
As a result, the bodies, which were to be cremated at that time, were cremated without any post-mortem examination. Accordingly, the postmortem examination of four bodies has been completed and it has been revealed that the cause of death was gunshot wounds. Wattala Magistrate Buddhika C. Ragala instructed the Ministry of Health to cremate the four bodies as per the gazette notification issued on April 11 regarding the cremation of Covid. .
Although the Magistrate had yesterday (23) ordered the post mortem reports of the other seven detainees to be submitted to the court, the autopsy reports of only four bodies had been submitted as a confidential report.
State Counsel Nirasha Jayaratne, appearing for the Attorney General, requested the court to cremate the four bodies as soon as possible. However, the Magistrate ordered that the case be adjourned until the 30th of this month to give a final decision as the Prisoners’ Rights Protection Committee objected to it.
The magistrate also said that the judiciary as well as the Attorney General would be embarrassed if the government did not take a direct decision on whether to bury or bury the infected bodies of Covid.