It has been a week since the clash at Mahara Prison. The bodies of the 11 detainees who died in the clash are still at the Ragama Teaching Hospital morgue. This is because many problems have arisen regarding the corpses.
The Department of Prisons initially stated that it was difficult to identify the dead bodies of inmates. It was stated that the reason for this was the burning of the archive containing their information. Meanwhile, the Ragama Hospital stated that eight out of the eleven inmates who died were confirmed to be infected with Covid.
Although these bodies were identified accordingly, the bodies were not owned by relatives according to the Covid guidelines. What happens is that you are taken from the hospital and cremated. However, Senaka Perera, the Chairman of the Committee to Protect the Rights of the Prisoner, has stated in the Wattala Magistrate’s Court that a post mortem should be conducted on these persons and the cause of their death should be ascertained. The complaint was filed to protect the fundamental rights of the victims.
Accordingly, the Magistrate had ordered the Attorney General and the Health Department to appear before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court yesterday (04) but no representative had appeared on behalf of the Attorney General. Therefore, Wattala Magistrate Buddhika C. Ragala adjourned the order till the 11th of this month.
Meanwhile, two detainees who died were identified yesterday (04). SL, a resident of A. Ja Ela, Kalupalama, Railway Reserve. Sampath Kumara is a 29 year old father of three and Amit Subasinghe is a 30 year old resident of Nahena, Hunupitiya, Wattala.
The suspect, Sampath, was arrested by the Ja-Ela Police on a drug-related charge about five months ago and remanded under Section 54. The suspect Amit was also arrested by the Kiribathgoda Police about four months ago along with his brother Damith on drug charges and remanded under Section 54. So far, his relatives have not been able to find any information about Amit’s brother Damith Subasinghe.
Relatives of detainees are still arriving near the Mahara Prison with photographs of their son, husband, brother and cousin. That is to find out what happened to his cousin who has no information yet.