By Mirudhula Thambiah in The Morning, Dec 27, 2022
Welcoming the recent order issued by the Vavuniya High Court (HC) to the security forces to produce a person who was handed over to them in Mullaitivu by his relatives during the end of war, the Association for the Relatives of Enforced Disappearances in the North and the East yesterday (26) noted that they too would file habeas corpus petitions to identify the whereabouts of their loved ones if the authorities take necessary steps to produce the relevant person before court.
Speaking to The Morning, Association Secretary Leeladevi Ananthanadarajah yesterday said that the order was a positive move by the Vavuniya High Court, and that if the relevant authorities take necessary steps to produce the relevant person before court, the other families of missing persons would similarly file petitions to ascertain their loved ones’ whereabouts.
“On an earlier occasion, we filed a few habeas corpus petitions with the Vavuniya and Mullaitivu courts in order to ascertain the whereabouts of our missing relatives, but due to the lack of certain evidence, they were rejected. Now, the recent order by the Vavuniya High Court seems positive, and if this particular person is produced, we would follow the same procedure,” she added.
She further said that when the relatives of missing persons filed the same petition earlier to find the whereabouts of their loved ones, they faced difficulties because the cases kept dragging on.
Meanwhile, recently, in response to a habeas corpus petition filed with the Vavuniya High Court, an order was made to the Sri Lanka Army to produce a person who was handed over to the security forces during the end of the war.
https://www.themorning.lk/articles/mVqeyDXLlzNR2s0Dy8F5
