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“Justice must be tempered with mercy”
By M.S.A. Rahim
In January 1972, I assumed duties as O.I.C., Crimes, Peradeniya Police. By August that year I won the praise of the Buddhist clergy of the surrounding areas - temples, their "Dayaka Sabhas" and the general public, not only by promptly recovering stolen items, but also by bringing before Mr. P. Edussuriya, the then Kandy Magistrate (now a S.C. Judge), a notorious and elusive criminal of Pilimathalawa. It was no easy task to get this 1971 hardcore insurgent to accept his guilt in a record of 30 (known in Police parlance as) 'accused unknown cases', 16 of which were temple burglaries in the Peradeniya area alone.

After a double murder case, I stumbled on another strange bicycle theft case in the Peradeniya Campus. This case needed extreme care, caution, compassion, and humanitarian considerations, true to the spirit of that famous saying "Justice must be tempered with mercy".

It happened one morning in August that year, when I was on duty at the Peradeniya Police Crime Desk, a final year engineering student in the company of three other students, complained to me that after his morning lectures, he found his almost new push bicycle missing. All his efforts to find it or obtain any clue had proved futile. That was the first such case reported from the campus.

The complainant did not suspect anyone though he was certain the bicycle had been stolen. With a Police team, we went to the scene of the crime and made our observations. On my return I kept a watch on the movements of the campus staff but got no clue. Then it occurred to me to check on all the nearby railway stations on the possibility of the stolen bicycle being sent by goods train to an addressee at another destination. This exercise though tiresome and costly (I had done a long mileage by Land Rover in checking on all the intermediate stations from Peradeniya to Kurunegala to Alawwa) paid rich dividends for at Alawwa Railway Station I found the stolen bicycle consigned to an addressee at Pothuhera.

Promptly my team and I made a beeline to Pothuhera Railway Station and after checking the registers, obtained the particulars of the person who had taken charge of the bicycle. We reached the place around 1.00 a.m. - less than twelve hours after the complaint was made. It was with some difficulty we located the house on a hilltop. The suspect - a 50-year-old cultivator was there with his family, quite unruffled but curious at the arrival of the Police. He admitted having taken delivery of the bicycle sent for his younger son by his older son - then a final year medical student at the Peradeniya Campus with just two more months to complete his course.

When I explained the serious consequences of the case, the cultivator and family broke down imploring me to save them and their son who was to be their breadwinner soon. On realizing that they were victims of circumstances, I was greatly moved by their pathetic plight, yet in a quandary as to how to help them. When they had regained their composure, I took the cultivator into custody, back to the Peradeniya Police, arriving there around six the following morning. The suspect's younger son also came with me. Being the father of a dental student myself, my mind was deeply engrossed on how best I could help them without recourse to the legal process.

After leaving the man and the bicycle at the Police Station, I left for the Campus to meet the suspect medical student. He at first brazenly denied the charge but when I explained to him that his father and the bicycle were already in my custody, his false bravado changed to penitence and he appealed to me not to make this matter public.
When I went in uniform to the Campus to bring the medical student concerned to Peradeniya Police Station, the other students started hooting, heckling and calling me names. But when they realized that their fellow student's fate was in the balance, they quickly adopted a more respectful and apologetic attitude appealing to me to save their colleague. I returned to Peradeniya Police with the medical student. On meeting his father and brother, all three broke down in tears.

Leaving them there I went to the Campus again to meet the engineering student. As I broke the good news of having arrested the suspect and recovered the stolen bicycle, he was so elated that he instantly embraced me and complimented me on a job well done. At the Peradeniya Police, he identified the bicycle and the medical student. By then more than 200 students from both faculties had gathered at the Peradeniya Police Station premises.

I asked the engineering student whether he would like to help his fellow student now that his lost bicycle had been recovered. At first he declined, asking me to proceed with the case but when I explained to him that there was a lacuna in the law, perhaps out of sympathy for the suspect medical student and his family, he made a fresh statement that on the same evening of the day he made the earlier complaint, when he was walking around the campus pond, he noticed a bicycle handle above the water level. On retrieving it, he discovered it was his lost bicycle.

Accordingly this statement was recorded, and the medical student was warned against a repetition, and both parties left the place much relieved. All of them cheered me for saving their fellow student. When my Superior Officer checked my mileage register, he found fault with me for doing 170 miles to recover a stolen bicycle but when he heard the full circumstances of the case and how we helped a final year medical student with just two more months to pass out, and give of his best to the country, he was pleased.

I had done that in good faith and that medical student must be now a Senior Consultant somewhere, though I could not keep a record of the two students' names.
The facts of the case, however, were reported to Courts as usual. The writer is a retd. Chief Inspector of Police.

A gift of books
By Ishani Ranasinghe
The reintroduction of the English medium in schools has brought with it a fresh realization of the need for books in English. When Bandula Chandraratne, better known as the author of 'Mirage' visited his old school, Kirillawella Maha Vidyalaya, last year, he was struck by the fact that the library had only 50 books.

Since then, Mr. Chandraratne has been a man with a mission. Having lived in England for the past 35 years, on his return, he got his daughter to collect some books and ship them to Sri Lanka. Seeing how successful it was, he now wants to keep on collecting books for Sri Lanka where the need is great.

He is aware that each year in Europe millions of books are pulped. "There is a surplus of books there and people just throw them away." After seeing his appeal in the papers, universities, libraries, schools and individuals contacted him and offered books to him. "I was able to collect a large quantity of books," says Mr. Chandraratne who even gets books from recycling plants. Driving long distances to collect the books, he then hires a vehicle and drives to London from where the books are shipped to Sri Lanka.

Since last September, he has sent two shipments with over 12,000 books to Sri Lanka. Here, a team of library personnel working on a voluntary basis (even on precious weekend spare time) handles the distribution of the books. Ms. Nalini Wijayanayaka, a professional librarian along with Ms. Janaki Fernando, Ms. Kamalambika, Mrs. L. Andradi, Mr. Y. G. Samarasinghe and Mr. L. P. Peris, heads the team. They are also assisted by Army personnel.

"There is quite a demand for these books," said Ms. Wijenayaka. Once the books are received they have to categorize them into broad subjects such as science, literature, languages etc. and select and make sets in keeping with the requests. A tedious process, but one that is worth all the hard work, she says. So far she has had many requests for books from places like the Sri Jayawardenapura University, the Ragama teaching hospital, schools and even Montessoris.

There is a great need for English books in libraries as most of the time library budgets are very limited. "In this context I feel this is a good opportunity for the librarians to develop their collection," she said, adding that unfortunately so far very few librarians have availed themselves of this opportunity.

When distributing, priority is given to libraries, she says. "Students are advised to send their requests through the Principal or the Librarian so that many are benefited rather than one individual," she says.

Realizing that the demand for these books is high Mr. Chandraratne believes that there must be a continuous supply of books. "It's an ongoing thing but I can't do it alone," he says. The last shipment cost him around Rs. one lakh.

Mr. Chandraratne envisages a scheme where those interested could sponsor a box for the shipments. "There are more than a thousand books stored in my house and more to come. A box would cost about Rs. 9000/- and it can hold about 500-600 books. I don't want to be dealing with money," he says adding he feels it is best if the sponsors pay a shipping company of their choice directly. The business community here can be a great asset in this project, he feels.

Ms. Wijenayaka also points out that they need a place in Colombo to store the books before they are distributed. "This will make it easier and quicker." This project has also gone a step further. Mr. Chandraratne has also had a few European companies coming forward to donate used computers as well. "They are not really high-tech but they are good enough for general use," he says, adding that the donors would like them to go to schools.

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