(Lanka-e-News -13.Aug.2016, 11.55PM) The District court ordered Derana TV channel and Upul Sannasgala to pay a sum of Rs. 5 million as compensation in connection with the insult inflicted on film critic Ajith Galapaththi .
Upul Shantha who participated in the Derana ‘360’ program that was telecast , made disparaging remarks pertaining to Galapaththi that were allegedly defamatory to his reputation. Based on the defamatory case filed by Galapaththi against Upul Shantha’s derogatory utterances , the district court issued an order that Sannasgala and the Derana TV channel shall pay the plaintiff a sum of Rs. 2.5 million each as compensation.
Ajith Galapaththi received a letter dated 2003 -01-25 signed by Sannasgala and Ashoka Handagamage as producer and Director respectively of the film ‘Thani thatuwen piyambanawa’ produced by Sannasgala in 2003 , requesting Galapaththi to send a critical comment to them to be published in the media .
This was published as a comment of an independent critic by Galapaththi on 31 st January 2003 in the Dinamina newspaper .Later , the 360 program of Derana questioned producer Sannasgala on the changes made to a sentence in the critical comment giving an entirely different meaning , as well as printing and publishing a paper . Sannasgala had then said , Galapaththi asked for payment in March 2003 for the critical comment he wrote.
In the verdict delivered by the court it is stated it has become clear to the court that Galapaththi has been defamed and his estimation among society has been lowered.
The court concluded that Sannasgala’s statement gives the impression that film critic Galapaththi the plaintiff is not an independent critic , and in the minds of those reading the comment ,doubts could be created whether it is in fact Galapaththi’s independent critical comment .
In the circumstances , although the damage caused to the complainant cannot be assessed , the court decided that the accused Sannasgala and the Derana channel shall pay compensation in a total sum of Rs. 5 million to the complainant.
What is paramount is independence , and if a critic does not act independently , the public will not accept his critical comments , the court said, while adding ,when considering the statement of Sannasgala ,Galapaththi has indeed been defamed via that.
The court revealed though the accused had stated that the complainant asked for payment in respect of his comment , the accused had failed to prove that. The court in its verdict has mentioned , it is of the view that there is nothing truthful in Sannasgala’s claims in that regard and are baseless.
The Derana TV channel telecast the 360 program inclusive of the statement on 2008-07-08 , and repeated it on 13 th July 2008 with the derogatory content.
This case was heard before Colombo additional district court judge M.A.A. Anavarathne . Senior lawyer Janaka Edirisinghe appeared on behalf of the plaintiff while Lawyers Sanath Senadheera , Randhika Kuruppu and Jagath Wickremerathne (senior lawyer) appeared on behalf the Derana TV channel , the accused . Nigel Hatch PC appeared on behalf of Upul Sannasgala, the other accused.
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by (2016-08-14 00:14:52)
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