The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has complained to the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) about the discriminatory practices of some members of the bar against a minority community.
In a letter addressed to the President of BASL, President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, the HRCSL said the Commission has been informed that the members of Mawanella and Badulla regional Bar Associations have refused to appear on behalf of members of the Muslim community arrested in the backdrop of the post-Easter Sunday suicide attacks.
As a result, family members of those arrested have been compelled to obtain services of lawyers from other regions entailing much financial hardship and inconvenience, the HRCSL noted.
The Commission has also learned that members of the Nikaweratiya Bar had protested when police had requested court not to grant bail to those arrested on suspicion of participating in the communal violence perpetrated on May 13th in some parts of the country.
“You would agree that such positions taken by learned members of the legal profession point to conduct that is seriously at variance with the expected standards of ethical and honorable conduct of legal practitioners who are engaged in a profession based on liberal values,” the chairperson of HRCSL Dr. Deepika Udagama wrote to the BASL President.
“Such discriminatory conduct, you would agree, denies to some of our fellow citizens the possibility of enjoying equal protection of the law under the Constitution of Sri Lanka.”
“This is a serious situation which questions the core values of our legal profession,” the chairperson stressed.
The HRCSL requested the Bar Association to “in earnest look into this matter and take urgent corrective measures.” The Commission requested the BASL to share the action taken by BASL in this regard with the Commission.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
