Kurunegala Magistrate's Court remanded a Muslim doctor who was falsely charged of sterilising Sinhala women after protests by Buddhist monks and lawyers.
Buddhist monks and lawyers claimed that releasing the doctor, Mohamed Shafi, could lead to violence in Kurunegala.
Despite the State saying it had no objections to bail, the court ordered that Shafi be remanded for another two weeks.
Court documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department found no evidence to support any of the allegations against Shafi and instead said that Deputy Inspector General of Police Kithsiri Jayalath, chief in Shafi's home region of Kurunegala, fabricated evidence and fed it to Sinhalese newspapers.
Shafi was arrested on May 24 over allegations that he had carried out illegal sterlisations of thousands of Sinhala women. The doctor was subjected to a smear campaign by Sinhala newspaper Divaina which published unsourced allegations against the doctor.
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