14 September 2024 12:00 am Views - 106
By J. Induruwage
The late Capt. Diyunuge Edward Henry Pedris who had been sentenced to death and executed on July 07, 1915, by the British rulers in Sri Lanka received a Presidential pardon 109 years after his death.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared it by Gazette Extra Ordinary on Thursday (12)
.
Captain Henry Pedris had been sentenced to death by British Governor Roberts Chalmers on the charge of involving in Sinhala – Muslim communal riots in 1915.
Born on August 16, 1888, in Galle, Henry Pedris had been a leading social worker and a senior military official. He had been court-martialed and executed.
However, his execution has been considered a miscarriage of justice.
Henry Pedris was the youngest and the only son in the family of Disan Pedrick and Melino Pedris Educated at the Colombo Academy, (Present Royal College) and St. Thomas’s College, he had earned a reputation as a cricketer.
During the World War I, he joined the Colombo City Security Force, and he was the first Sinhala young man to join that volunteer force. A skilful horse rider and a marksman, Henry Pedris was elevated to the position of a commissioned officer and was destined to be promoted to the position of Captain in a short time.
When martial law was enforced on June 02, 1915 due to the communal clashes, the police and the army was ordered to shoot dead anyone suspected of involvement in the riots. Thousands of Sinhala people were subject to summary executions.
Capt. Henry Pedris performing his duty in his official capacity attempted to control the tense situation through talks with the mob.
It is said the Gate Mudaliyar Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, who had been a close confidante of Governor Robert Chalmers had advised the governor with allegations against Henry Pedris that resulted in his interdiction.
The main allegation against him was that he shot a group of Muslims and lured the Sinhalese rioters to stage a march from Peliyagoda to Colombo. This resulted in the arrest of Henry Pedris.
Later he was court-martialed before a panel of three military officials who found him guilty and sentenced him to death without leave to appeal.
Governor Chalmers ordered the execution to be carried out on July 07, 1915.
His father, who had amassed wealth and means, offered to donate to the government, gold equal to the weight, but to no avail.
Henry Pedris made five requests to the government before executing the death sentence. He requested for permission to see his parents, make a Pooja to the Buddhist monks, to accord a tea party to his friends in the army, to deploy a Punjab soldier to fire the shot, and to bury his body in the family burial ground. All his requests excluding the fifth had been granted.
When his eyes were covered with a black cloth before execution, he protested against it. Fulfilling his request, a Punjab soldier fired the shot that put Henry Pedris to death, depriving the country of a patriotic young man at 27 years of age.
Even of late, this miscarriage of justice has been rectified and acquitted Henry Pedris of the false allegations of the British rulers.