 "'Judicial cannibalism': Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe proposes select committee to look into top court's ruling blocking gender equality Bill")
Highlighting that the Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has engaged in “judicial cannibalism” after the top court ruled that the enactment of the ‘Gender Equality’ Bill is inconsistent with Article 12 of the Constitution, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday proposed to appoint a select committee to look into judgment, a move opposed by many MPs.
“The top court has ignored a certain section which the Gender Equality Bill has addressed. It has eaten up all the judgments including one which had been given by a bench of ten judges with regard to women’s rights. It has engaged in judicial cannibalism. The Court has also ignored an amendment to the penal code by the Chief Justice,” Daily Mirror quoted the President as saying.
The gender equality bill seeks to legalise equal opportunities to all irrespective of sex or gender identity in Sri Lanka, a Buddhist-majority country of 22 million people.
“The determination also challenges the Priven Education Bill. I don’t propose to summon judges before Parliament, but I propose that we appoint a majority of members from the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus to the select committee,” Wickremesinghe told Parliament, raising a privilege issue.
He said the House could not agree with the apex court’s ruling.
However, MP Wimal Weerawansa said challenging the determinations of the Supreme Court is not a healthy move.
“Why should we have a Supreme Court if we are going to challenge it every time,” he questioned.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“There is no issue in granting equal rights to women and upholding the rights of those whose gender is difficult to determine as a result of hormone disorders from which they suffer. However, we cannot endorse providing legal provisions to the mafia with regard to gender equality. Even children are given the choice to change their gender equality prevailing in Western countries, sexual organs are sold for USD 4,000 in those countries. We should not allow that kind of development in this country,” Weerawansa was quoted as saying.
Agreeing with Weerawansa, TNA MP MA Sumanthiran proposed that it is better to refer the Bill to the Supreme Court for a redetermination.
“It is better to refer the Bill for a re-determination rather than challenging the Supreme Court. It is not a healthy move to appoint select committees to look into each determination given by the Supreme Court,” Daily Mirror quoted the MP as saying.
The petitioners against the bill had argued that a clause of the Bill if passed would permit same-sex marriages hurting the cultural sensitivities of different communities.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court had agreed that allowing same-sex marriages was both constitutionally and culturally wrong.
The court has ruled that a two-thirds parliamentary majority and a referendum would be needed to adopt it without the amendments to its contentious clauses.
With inputs from agencies
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