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J’pura ragging death: Convicted students lose appeal
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
The Court of Appeal this week upheld the Colombo High Court’s sentence on 22 former undergraduates who pleaded guilty to causing the death of a fellow student at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura by striking his head with a thick glass.
The Court of Appeal set aside applications filed by the convicts seeking a revision on the sentence passed by the High Court as well as the mother of the victim, who appealed that the sentence be increased.
Undergraduate Ovitigala Vithanage Samantha succumbed to his injuries in the assault which took place on November 11, 2002.
Court of Appeal Judge Amal Ranaraja, with Judge Sashi Mahendran agreeing, held that the appeal by the convicts was not submitted in time and that reasonable grounds had not been cited.
Student Samantha had opposed ragging and had been called for a meeting where he and his group were assaulted.
The convicts were sentenced to varying jail terms, depending on their involvement in the incident.
The 17th accused, who was heavily involved in the incident, was given an eight-year jail term, while the sixth accused was given three years of rigorous imprisonment. The other accused had been given a suspended jail term for five years and fined Rs 5,000 each.
They faced 20 charges, including assaulting eight other students and causing Rs 75,000 worth of damage to university property.
They were ordered to pay Rs 500,000 as compensation to the mother of Samantha.
Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Perera represented the Attorney General, while Anil Silva, PC, appeared for the appellants.
The mother of the victim was represented by Amila Palliyage and Lalith Siriwardena.
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