Features ‘Has the Criminal Justice system served its purpose?’ – Response – [From The Island Newspaper (Sri Lanka), January 28, 2008]
In an article entitled ‘Has the Criminal Justice system served its purpose?’ (The Island, January 9, 2008) C. R. de Silva, the Attorney General, among other things makes a case for the abolition of the admission of dock statements in criminal trials. In fact this is a most sensible suggestion as in all countries where the British introduced the admission of such statements in colonial times the practice has been discontinued. A recommendation the abolition of admission of dock statements was already made in 1994 by a committee appointed by the Ministry of Justice which was headed by Mr. de Silva, then as the Solicitor General. The report was entitled ‘Eradication of Laws Delays’.
This document can be viewed at www.ruleoflawsrilanka.org
The report stated:
The Committee is of the opinion that the law relating to Dock Statements warrants amendment as the present practice permits the accused to lie with impunity.
In this regard the Committee recommends that Courts be barred from attaching any evidential value to such a statement unless they are corroborated by other independent facts and material evidence.
The Ministry of Justice that took the initiative to appoint this committee did not take the subsequent steps of implementing the recommendations by taking the necessary legislative measures to ensure that some archaic practices were removed. This committee also made a few more important recommendations, which too have not been followed up. One very significant recommendation was to cause compulsory attendance in court by the police officers who are assigned to appear. Their frequent absence, the committee opined, was one of the causes for the laws delays.
Compulsory attendance: The Committee recognises the need to introduce administrative measures requiring Police Officers to attend Court on a compulsory basis, in view of the frequency with which Police Officers obtain leave and abstaining from Court sighting inappropriate grounds, which has been observed to result in unnecessary disruption of Court proceedings in the recent past.
The committee also recommended:
The Committee recommends the incorporation of a mandatory legal provision requiring Magistrates to visit Police Station at least once a month for the purpose of ensure the detention and interrogation of suspects according to law. It is also suggested that provision be introduced to empower Magistrates to visit Police Stations at any time, in order to inspect and/or monitor the lawful detention and interrogation of suspects.
In fact there are many more significant recommendations in this report which was submitted in April, 2004. The blame for the damage done to the criminal justice system by the failure to implement such recommendations must be placed elsewhere, with those who had the obligation to evolve such recommendations into law.
Regarding the larger question of ‘Has the Criminal Justice system served its purpose?’ there are many more things to consider than a few issues raised by the Attorney General. The purpose of a criminal justice system is to create a law abiding society and certainly Sri Lanka at present is not one such society. The widespread lawlessness that has seeped into all areas of life is an issue on which there is general consensus. The question of lawlessness is much larger than the issue of criminality. Far more comprehensive strategies are needed to deal with this issue and to cultivate respect for law at all levels of governance as well as civil society. Perhaps the consensus that has now been achieved on the members of the Constitutional Council, which may lead to the appointment of the Constitutional Council as soon as possible, may be an important step in the direction of addressing this all important question.
Filed under: Sri Lanka, attorney general, crime, rule of law
