Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis on Wednesday (29) ordered that the judge of the Colombo North Quazi Court, who was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe of Rs. 7,500 to issue a divorce certificate, be remanded until December 11.
The suspect was arrested and produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court based on a telephone complaint made by a teacher of a main school in Colombo to the Bribery and Corruption Commission.
The complainant had got married for the first time in 2019 and had a second marriage in 2023 under Muslim law. Due to a problem in the second marriage, the wife had filed a case before the Quazi Court to obtain a divorce from him.
The Quazi judge, who had issued a temporary divorce certificate, had demanded a bribe of Rs 7,500 from the complainant to issue the permanent certificate. After complaining to the Bribery Commission, the Quazi-judge was arrested on Monday (27), at the time he was accepting the bribe by employing a decoy.
The suspect, who was appointed by the Judicial Services Commission, was produced in Court through a B report on the charge of demanding a bribe to provide his services while acting as a Government official.
The suspect’s lawyers stated that their client was a Moulavi of a major mosque in Colombo, and that he had served as a judge in the Quazi Court for seven years, and that he had never been charged before.
It was said that women get the least sympathetic decisions in Quazi courts, and within such a background, the suspect accepted the request of the second wife and requested a bribe for granting the divorce.
In addition to the complainant and the suspect, the Bribery Commission requested not to grant bail as more evidence should be recorded. The Magistrate took into consideration the facts submitted and remanded the suspect. Attorney Hussain Nasser appeared for the suspect.
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