High Court judge Ilancheliyan appeared before Jaffna courts this week, where he provided a statement over a 2017 assassination attempt on his life, that saw a Sri Lankan police constable killed.

Judge Ilancheliyan was flanked by a police escort along with paramilitary troops, while security was beefed up around the court complex. 

Ilancheliyan was fired at on July 22, 2017. He believes the assassination attempt is linked to his overseeing of dangerous criminal cases.

The judge’s car was shot at by two individuals on Temple Road, close to the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, around 5.10pm. The two policemen that make up Judge Ilancheliyan’s security detail fired back, engaging in a five-minute shoot-out with the perpetrators, following which the perpetrators fled on motorbikes. 

One of the police officers died from his injury later that evening. See more here. The police officer who was seriously injured also turned up in court where he too was asked to make a statement. 

The shooting took place despite the massive Sri Lankan military presence in the region, where tens of thousands of troops remain deployed. The Tamil North-East remains one of the most militarised places in the world, per capita.

Yet dangerous crime including drug trafficking and murders have continued, with allegations that the Sri Lankan security forces are colluding with criminal gangs.