While condemning the mob attacked carried out against the lawyers who appeared for the suspects in the case of the abduction of the child Dinundu in the Magistrates Courts of Mahawa, the President of Sri Lanka Bar Association Upul Jayasuriya blamed police for not taking action against the culprits.

“It is the duty of the Lawyers to appear for every person who is in need of legal services and advice in court and outside court. This is a cardinal rule of the legal profession. Every Attorney at Law is duty bound to render his services to his client who is in need of his services. If a lawyer refuses to render his services he could be disciplinarily dealt with by the Supreme Court,” the BASL president said.

He said it was a sad situation for failing to contain a mob attack in the precincts of a court house with the presence of so many police officers. He further said police should the full responsibility of the incident and apprehend and produce the offenders before courts and be dealt with according to law.

“The duty of a member of the legal profession in presenting a case before a court of law is to prove or disprove the offense according to the existing laws on the available evidence. It is not within our domain to have a pretrial as to the gilt of an accused and then to decide whether or not appear,” Jayasuriya further said.

Finally he said The Bar Association of Sri Lanka was hesitantly supporting the members of the legal profession who had the courage to appear in courts in the discharge of their professional duties even at personal risk.