The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa
In response to a parliamentary question, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa stated that no assassinations of journalists had been reported, while one abduction and eight assault incidents were recorded. He named Prageeth Bandara Ekneligoda as the abduction victim and listed the journalists involved in assault cases, providing the status of each related judicial or mediation process, including ongoing trials, charge sheet delays, court orders, withdrawn complaints, and concluded cases.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer is as follows: (a) (i) Assassinations – None reported. Abductions – 01 Assaults – 08
¶ 02 Names: - Abduction: Prageeth Bandara Ekneligoda - Assaults: Mahinda Ariyawansa; Kumbure Gedara Danushka Sampath Senavirathna; Rafideen Farook; Mohamed Suhaib; Subramaniam Baskaran; Diyuldeniya Widanarallalage Chamila Janith; Kumara Ekanayake; Mudiyanselage Asanka Krishantha Balasooriya Serasinghe; Mudiyanselage Sinesh Upendra; Alulgodage Indunil Sisira Wijenayake
¶ 03 (iii) Progress: - Abduction: Prageeth Bandara Ekneligoda – Trial ongoing before the Tripartite High Court. - Assault: Mahinda Ariyawansa – Case under trial; medical report indicates minor injuries; both parties referred to Mediation Board by Court. - Assault: Kumbure Gedara Danushka Sampath Senavirathna – Two suspects arrested and produced before Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court, Case No. 17165/25; released on two sureties of Rs. 100,000 each; ordered to report to Police monthly; next date 20.11.2025. - Assaults: Rafideen Farook; Mohamed Suhaib – Filing of charge sheets extended to 30.03.2026. - Assault: Subramaniam Baskaran – Facts reported on 12.07.2025; identification parade conducted; referred to Mediation Board; next date 07.01.2026. - Assault: Diyuldeniya Widanarallalage Chamila Janith SBS Kumara Ekanayake – Complaint withdrawn on 16.06.2025 without compensation. - Assault: Mudiyanselage Asanka Krishantha Balasooriya Serasinghe – Case concluded at Magistrate’s Court with admonition. - Assault: Alulgodage Indunil Sisira Wijenayake – On 01.10.2024, fine of Rs. 1,000 or in default six months’ imprisonment; an additional six months’ rigorous imprisonment suspended for five years.
¶ 04 (b) Not applicable.
¶ 05 My references are to the named journalists subjected to abduction or assault and the progress of related judicial proceedings.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 22 October 2025 ·No. 22638 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/12296
Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 October 2025. No. 22638. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12296