"Govt. fails to provide report on Welikada Prison riots" - SL Human Rights Commission

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka says it has not received a response to the request made by the Commission, under the Right To Information Act to obtain the report on the 2012 Welikada Prison riots, which was compiled by a three-member committee. Chairperson of the Commission, Dr. Deepika Udagama, said requests in writing have been sent to the Information Officers at the Police Department and the Attorney General's Department. Ideally, a response must be given within 14 days to a request sent under the Right To Information Act. However, depending on the severity of the request, the time period could be extended upto 21 days. If the Information Officer fails to provide the relevant information within that period, it is the Information Officer's responsibility to inform the requesting party why the information cannot be provided. According to Dr. Deepika Udagama, it has been three weeks since the request was made and both the Police Department and the Attorney General's Department have failed to provide any response. After the Government of Good Governance came into power on the 22nd of January 2015, a three-member committee was appointed by the then Minister of Justice, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to look into the 2012 Welikada prison riot. Accordingly, the final report compiled by the committee containing over 600 pages, was handed over to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the 9th of June 2015. Member of the Committee, Attorney-at-Law S.K. Liyanage, said he is disappointed that the recommendations of the report are yet to be initiated and as it has not yet been sent to the relevant authorities for action, despite the report being submitted to the Prime Minister. Twenty-seven inmates were allegedly killed, while twenty inmates were injured during the unrest on the 9th of November 2012. It has already been revealed that this was carried out by a group with the intention of murder.