Some Facts / Speculations/ Doubts arising out of the Bandaranaike Assassination
Some Facts / Speculations/ Doubts arising out of the Bandaranaike Assassination I was among a group of teachers from SAC who stood in a queue for over six hours, in sun & rain, to pay our respects to the late Prime Minister, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, when the remains were lying in state at Horagolla in September, 1959. The mood in the country was one of extreme sadness. Many in the queue around us strongly desired that the perpetrators should receive the maximum punishment. Death Penalty At the time of the assassination the death penalty was suspended on the initiative of PM Bandaranaike himself (JRJ did the same later) . A Commission of Inquiry on Capital Punishment was thereafter appointed in 1958 with Australian Professor of Law , Norwal Morris as Chairman & Professor T. Nadarajah & Sir Edwin Wijeyaratne as members. In 1959 just before the assassination, Sessional paper XIV of 1959 was published wherein the majority view was that the suspension ...