Editors Guild of Sri Lanka strongly condemns the incident of a police constable forcibly taking away notebooks of journalists who were reporting an enquiry at Embilipitiya Magistrate Court.

A police constable had grabbed the notes of journalists who were reporting the enquiry of Embilipitiya civilian’s death while the first witness was testifying, on 13th.

“The local reporters were engaged in their legal career at court. Justice never informed the journalists to refrain from reporting, neither did order to leave the court room. There was no indication which prevented journalists from reporting judicial process”, the Editors Guild stated.

“Notebooks of journalists were sent back with pages ripped off. We believe the court sergeant acted under the orders of higher officials since magisterial enquiry into the actions of police regarding the death of youth was also involved with his culpable actions”.

Furthermore, Editors Guild requests the government to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation on the incident, since journalists’ constitutional rights to carry out their career, media freedom, and citizens’ right to information was directly disrupted.