THONDAMAN ALLOWED BAIL (99 Feb 24)
Mr. Arumugam Thondaman M.P. and the grandson of Mr. S. Thondaman surrendered before the magistrate of Hatton on Tuesday the twenty second. He was granted a cash bail of Rs. 1000 and a surety bail of Rs.10,000.
Mr. Thondaman Jr. and six others have been accused of assaulting Mr. K. Wijeratne an employee of the Dickoya hospital. Apparently Mr. Thondaman had asked Mr. Wijeratne in Tamil . However Mr. Wijeratne had not been able to reply as he did not know any Tamil. Mr. Thondaman had also threatened the district medical officer (DMO) during the incident.
As the police refrained from taking any action against Mr. Thondaman and the others the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) went on strike in certain hospitals in the up country area. They were to spread the strike to include the Mahanuwara and the Peradeniya hospitals as well when Mr. Thondaman decided to surrender before the magistrate.
The question is if not for the strike of the GMOA what would have happened? It is very likely that the police would not have taken any action. The politicians for some time now have taken the law into their hands and the law enforcing officers have become helpless.