Novelist arrested over gay plot line about bhikkus
Posted on April 6th, 2019
Courtesy The Island
(Colombo, AFP) – A Sri Lankan novelist has been arrested for writing about homosexuality in the Buddhist clergy and charged with violating international human rights law, officials said Tuesday, outraging free speech advocates.
Shakthika Sathkumara, 33, was arrested in Polgahawela on Monday and remanded in custody for nine days after monks complained about his writing.
The short story contained indirect references to homosexuality among the clergy, who hold considerable sway in the Buddhist-majority nation of 21 million.
The story was published on Sathkumara’s Facebook page and in local Sinhalese language publications.
“A group of monks complained that the reference to homosexual activities among the clergy insulted Buddhism,” a police spokesman said.
Buddhist monks are expected to be celibate. Homosexuality is also outlawed in Sri Lanka under an 1883 colonial-era law, but it is rarely enforced.
The police spokesman said the monks who complained refused to settle the matter out of court and insisted on Sathkumara being prosecuted.
He was taken before a local magistrate who charged him with inciting “religious hatred” under the United Nation’s international human rights treaty, to which Sri Lanka is a signatory.
Local activists decried what they called abuse of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to clamp down on free speech.
“The police have abused their powers and carried out an arbitrary arrest,” the Free Media Movement, a local watchdog, said in a statement.
“We condemn this action of the police.”
April 6th, 2019 at 3:31 pm
This is the work of common anti-Buddhist activist in Sri Lanka and supported by various NGO groups. They try to protect themselves behind the thin vale of freedom of speech completely ignoring the international human rights laws and inciting “religious hatred” under the United Nation’s international human rights treaty, to which Sri Lanka is a signatory.
If someone has enough evidence to identify an individual as a homosexual it is fair enough according to Sri Lankan law. If someone is trying to blame the whole Buddhist clergy as homosexuals, then that should not be allowed not only in Sri Lanka but it is illegal in most of the western countries to pinpoint and discriminate homosexuals let alone insulting Buddhist clergy.
It is quite correct to charge him with violating international human rights law and also inciting “religious hatred” under the United Nation’s international human rights treaty, to which Sri Lanka is a signatory.
April 6th, 2019 at 3:36 pm
However, this arrest gave publicity he wanted. He won.
Everything this man and his relatives, girlfriends (if any)or boy friends own , bank accounts shall be investigated. If he was honestly writing an actual story those monks shall be disrobed and all the property and wealth shall be confiscated. If laws not permit that new laws shall be passed.
To do all these we must have a government. We didn’t have one since 2009.
April 6th, 2019 at 4:27 pm
This is a racket involving various artistes – novelists, film makers, etc. This amounts to hate speech.
Sri Lanka must bring laws to severely punish hate speech.
But the parliament would not do it because most activists of TNA and SLMC will be behind bars if done so and some religious text will be banned in the country.
At the same time illicit sexual activity involving all clergy must be punished. It is not confined to some Buddhist monks, it also includes Catholic priests and Hindu priests as well.
April 7th, 2019 at 4:45 am
Ignore these people.
April 7th, 2019 at 5:42 am
Obviously this miscreant must have been paid a lot of money by anti Buddhist, anti Sinhalese, anti Sri Lanka
traitors. It is not surprising these things happening when Sri Lanka is ruled by the biggest anti Buddhist miscreant,
traitor chief die hard catholic token Buddhist bay gal karaya mega thief mega thakkadiya walking crime bomb
(against Sinhalese Buddhists, Buddhism and Sri Lanka only) Batalande wa(n)dakaya lajja nathi bxjja nathi aga matta Pol Pot r@ni_leech wickrama Sinhala killer. Only last week, its side kick, milk dog aka kiribxlla shouted at
a monk shut up you para bxlla, that from a dog to a monk.
It is not surprising these things happening, and I’m surprised miscreant was arrested at all since
Sinhalese Buddhists and Buddhism have become a joke under these traitor, thieving, minority worshiping,
Mother Lanka dismembering, lying, murderous (Sinhalese Buddhists only since murdering/hurting tamils, mussies,
catholics is a war crime under UN, AI etc jokers who can’t see millions getting killed in syria, yemen, also MPs
from all four corners of the globe going to have bleeding hearts after checking how many votes they can garner
by coughing up a bit for them) corrupt thugs of the UNPatriotic_rats party. Those bleeding hearts mps I mentioned
can be severe if the low life mps have too many votes in their constituencies. See health scares everywhere these
days.