The Court of Appeal yesterday (22) granted further time to the respondents until January 30 to file objections in respect of the Writ application seeking to prevent the annual rituals of animal sacrifice to the God at the Sri Bhadra Kali Amman Kovil in Munneswaram, Chilaw.

The matter was taken up before Justice W.L. Ranjith Silva.

The petitioners were Sri Bodhiraja Foundation, Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya, Dharmavijaya Foundation President Olcott Gunasekera, Ven. Bandirippuwe Vineetha Thero, Animal Welfare Trust Chairman Iranganie de Silva and its trustee Visakha Tillekaratne, Sri Lanka Animal Protection Association Vice President Lorraine Marguerite Bartholomeusz, Sri Lanka Animal Protection Secretary Sharmini Desiree Ratnayake, Sathva Mithra President Sagarika Rajakarunanayake and five others.

They cited the IGP, Puttalam DIG, Chilaw SSP, Chilaw Police OIC, Chilaw UC, its Chairman, Sri Bhadra Kali Amman Kovil trustees M. Kanagaratnam, Kalimuttu Shivapakyasuntheram and Mahendra Samy as well as the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) President and the Attorney General as respondents.

C.R. de Silva PC with Suren de Silva, R.J. de Silva and Dulan Weerawardena appeared for the Petitioners. S. Sivarasa PC with A.R. Surendran and V. Puvitharan instructed by Mohan Balendra appeared for the trustee Kalimuttu Shivapakyasuntheram. Srinath Perera with Neville Ananda and N. Kandeepan appeared for trustee Mahendra Samy. K. Neelakandan appeared for the ACHC. Additional Solicitor General Bimba Jayasinghe Tillekeratna with Senior State Counsel Anusha Samaranayake appeared for the other respondents.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka