Court orders remains of 4 inmates be cremated

• Post-mortems conducted on four of 11 deceased
• 4 of 11 inmates died due to gunshot injuries, expert committee reports
• Court rejects request by families of the 4 deceased to bury the dead

By Asiri Fernando

The Wattala Magistrate Court yesterday ordered that the remains of four inmates killed during the Mahara Prison unrest be cremated in line with the COVID-19 regulations issued by the Health Ministry.

The Court order came following a report submitted by the five-member expert committee appointed to carry out the post-mortems on the 11 inmates who were killed during the Mahara Prison unrest on 29 November. 

The committee had conducted post-mortems on four of the dead inmates who had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Eight of the 11 had tested positive for COVID-19 tests carried out on the deceased. 

The expert committee had reported to the Court that four of the 11 inmates’ cause of death was related to gunshot injuries received during the unrest. The post-mortems of the remaining seven inmates are to be carried out during the next few days, Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said. 

A motion by relatives of the deceased to bury the remains of the inmates was turned down by the Court, following an objection by State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, who pointed out that COVID-19 infected bodies needed to be cremated in line with regulations issued by the Health Ministry.

The Court appointed a five-member panel of expert, made up of four senior judicial medical officers and ballistics expert from the Government Analyst Department to conduct post-mortems of the 11 deceased inmates.

The Mahara Prison unrest saw 107 persons including two prisons officers sustain injuries and a significant part of the prison burnt down. The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) is investigating the incident. 

According to the Prisons Department, overcrowding of prisons and remand detention facilities, and the lack of resources have been a systemic problem in the corrections system. Most of those who were caught up in the Mahara Prison unrest were remand detainees who were protesting the crowded conditions and seeking PCR testing to ascertain if they were exposed to COVID-19.