Tamil lawyers have accused the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the occupying Sri Lankan Police Station in Palaly of misleading the Mallakam Magistrate’s Court regarding the arrests of individuals protesting against the illegal construction of the Tissa Vihara on Tamil-owned land in Thaiyiddy.
The Sri Lankan Police have filed a case in the Mallakam Magistrate’s Court, claiming that protesters had violated a court order banning demonstrations in front of the Buddhist vihara on Poya day.
During the hearings, senior lawyers N. Sirikantha and N. Kandeepan, appearing on behalf of the arrested protesters, submitted that the police had failed to follow proper legal procedures in serving the restraining orders.
When the protest against the Tissa temple was about to take place, restraining orders were obtained against some people in court, the lawyers told reporters. The restraining orders obtained by the court were not served on the relevant people, and while the protest was going on, the police who came there read out their names, they continued.
"We had stated in the court that the police cannot claim that they have satisfied the provisions of the law through this," the lawyers added.
They further submitted that the police officers were misleading the court by providing false information. "We have pointed out in court that the police have not taken any action against those spreading false information, and we have also submitted evidence to the court," they said.
The Amarapura Nikaya Peedam, responsible for the vihara, had informed the Acting Inspector General of Police and the Northern Province Senior Superintendent of Police on 29 May that it would not conduct Poson events at the site.
Despite this, hard-line Sinhala nationalist groups reportedly spread false information on social media last month, alleging that Tamil protesters had disrupted Buddhist worshippers at the vihara and claiming that Tamils were planning to demolish the temple. These false claims further incited Sinhala nationalist sentiment, encouraging groups to gather at the site.
The Tamil submissions come in the context of rising tensions surrounding the Tissa Vihara, which has been illegally constructed on privately owned Tamil land in Thaiyiddy.
Social activist Rajkumar Rajeevkanth alleged that members of extremist groups, including Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balaya, and Sinhala Ravaya, who were responsible for spreading these false claims, had arrived at the site and were provided security by the occupying Palali police.
Following the legal submissions, the magistrate has reportedly put the case on hold.
The events at Thaiyiddy form part of a broader pattern of state-facilitated Sinhala-Buddhist encroachment on Tamil land.
