Prison Commissioner and Spokesman Chandana Ekanayaka told the Sunday Observer yesterday that the Chief Jailor of the prison’s women’s section had rejected actress Damitha Abeyrathna’s statement that she had received orders from her superiors to keep the actress in a ward with “menacing” female inmates.
He said that an investigation carried out by the Prisons’ Department in relation to the time when actress Damitha Abeyratna was in Welikada prison, revealed that the Chief Jailor of the prison’s women’s section had taken steps to keep Damitha Abeyratna in a suitable place in the prison for her safety, as Damitha had told the media, but the female officer had not told Damitha of receiving orders from her high-ups to keep her in a ward with menacing female inmates (jara genu). On the contrary, she had told during the investigation that no one had influenced her in such a way, he added.
Damitha Abeyant made the disputed statement to the media after she was released on bail.
She was arrested on September 7 while participating in a protest-themed ‘The Silent Hour’ at the Parliament Roundabout opposite Diyatha Uyana. Among other things, Police charged her with unlawful assembly and unlawful entry into the President’s Office.
She was an Aragalaya protest campaign activist.