Hearings have been scheduled for April and July in cases filed against Tamil activists and residents who protested against the construction of the illegal Thaiyiddy Vihara in the Jaffna peninsula.
Eleven individuals, including activists, members of the Northern Provincial Council and local landowners, have been individually charged by the Mallakkam Magistrate’s Court. Three separate cases were filed by Mullaitivu police against those who took part in protests opposing the vihara.
The accused, who had previously been released on bail, appeared before the court on Thursday when the cases were taken up. Following the hearing, the court fixed one case for April and the remaining two for July.
The charges stem from a series of protests by Tamil residents and civil society groups against the construction of the Thaiyiddy Vihara, which has been widely criticised as an illegal structure built on land belonging to Tamil families in the Tamil homeland.
The vihara was constructed in Thaiyiddy, a village in Jaffna, on land that is privately owned. The site lies within an area that remained under military control for years after the end of the armed conflict, with access to land restricted for displaced Tamil families.
Despite repeated objections from local residents and political representatives, the Buddhist shrine was erected with the support of the Sri Lankan military and state authorities. Tamil civil society organisations have condemned the construction as part of a broader pattern of Sinhala-Buddhist encroachment into the North-East, warning that such projects seek to alter the demographic and cultural character of the Tamil homeland.
Protests against the vihara have been met with police action, with demonstrators arrested and charged. Rights groups have raised concerns over the use of legal measures to suppress dissent and silence Tamil landowners asserting their rights.
The ongoing cases in the Mallakkam Magistrate’s Court come amid continued tensions over land ownership, militarisation and the construction of Buddhist structures in Tamil areas. Across the North-East, Tamil communities have repeatedly resisted state-backed projects that they say threaten their land rights and cultural heritage.
