Petitions filed in support of Dolawatte’s Bill

Several intervening petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court supporting SLPP MP Premnath Dolawatte’s Private Members’ Bill that decriminalise same sex consensual relationships.   The intervening petitioners have submitted that if the proposed Bill is enacted by Parliament that it will remedy a long-standing injustice against the LGBT community.   

The intervening-petitions sought to dismiss the submissions made by political activist Jehan Hameed, Shenali Waduge and Athula De Silva that the Penal Code amendment bill will expose children to child abuse.   

The intervening petitioners include former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Prof. Savithri Gunasekara; former Human Rights Commissioner, Ramani Muttetuwegama; former Chairperson of the National Child Protection Authority, Natasha Balendra; former Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and former UN Undersecretary General for Children Radhika Coomaraswamy; Child Rights Activist Dr. Tushara Wickremanayaka; Executive Director of the Family Planning Association (FPA), Thushara Ranasinghe; Director of Advocacy of the FPA and former Child Protection Advisor at Save the Children and Coordinator for the National Partnership to End Violence Against Children, Sonali Peiris; Programme Officer for HIV Services in South East Asia, Jake Oorloff; Equality Director of iProbono, Aritha Wickramasinghe; Executive Director of the National Transgender Network, Bhoomi Harendran and LGBT Human Rights organisation Equal Ground.  President’s Counsels Sanjeewa Jayawardena and Dilrukshi Wickremasinghe and Attorneys-At-Law Thishya Weragoda and N.K. Ashokbaran are among the senior lawyers representing the intervening-petitioners. 
The petitioners asserted that there are sufficient provisions in the Penal Code to protect children from abuse.   Furthermore, the petitioners argued that Section 365B of the Penal Code defines “Grave sexual abuse” as “any act” done for sexual gratification “by the use of [his] genitals or any other part of the human body  (ER)

or any Instrument on any orifice or part of the body of any other person”, clearly demonstrating that the laws are sufficient to cover all aspects of sexual abuse done by a person to a child. Section 365B includes any form of touch, including touch with hands, of any part of the victim’s body; oral rape; anal rape, etc. These provisions cover all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of children irrespective of gender or sexual orientation.   

Therefore, the petitioners said that the allegations that decriminalisation of LGBT people will expose children to abuse with no legal recourse is malicious, unfounded and a lie. It recycles the unfounded myth that LGBT people are child predators, despite statistics showing that the overwhelming majority of child sexual abuse is committed by heterosexual men.   
Political activists Jehan Hameed, journalist Shenali Waduge and former Brigadier Athula De Silva, filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Constitutionality of the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill. The Bill, proposed by MP Premnath Dolawatte, aims to amend and repeal parts of Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code. These laws have been overwhelmingly used to criminalise the lives of LGBT people, including subjecting them to forced anal and vaginal examinations by the State.