A group of alleged loyalists and close acolytes of the management of Royal Institute International School have commenced a media smear campaign to safeguard their Academic Director Dr. Nirodha Bandara, when she lashed out calling the three bench Supreme Court Judges as heartless, due to an order that was given by them to demolish their Nugegoda Branch School and also the cancelling of its business license.

Dr. Nirodha Bandara

Whilst addressing a group of teachers, parents and students at their Kohuwela, Nugegoda Branch at 92, Sunethra Devi Place last Saturday, Dr. Nirodha Bandara besides calling the Supreme Court Judges heartless not once, but on two occasions (listen to at audio 7 mins 38 seconds), vowed to exhaust all avenues legally and politically (listen audio 3 mins 58 seconds) and also instigated the members of the audience to go and scold the residents who filed a case against the school (listen to audio at 3 mins 34 seconds).

Colombo Telegraph in its publication yesterday under the caption “Royal Institute: Kamal Gunaratne Resigns – Owner’s Daughter Says Supreme Court Is Heartless & Vows to Use Political Influence” confirmed that it does have an audio recording of Dr. Nirodha Bandara speaking at the event.

Listen to the audio below:

However despite stating that evidence to the facts published in the story is in Colombo Telegraph’s possession in the form of an audio recording (8 mins 17 seconds), it was not uploaded with the published story.

Meanwhile a group of individuals named Chathura Muthukumara, Miuranga Suriyapatabendi, Thushmi Sooriyaarachchi and Sarith Abeygunawardena using their Facebook profiles went on to smear the published Colombo Telegraph story with some saying they were physically present at the meeting and all claiming in unison that Dr. Nirodha Bandara had never made such statements as published.

Please see some of the comments posted below.

Chatura Muthukumarana: As alumni of Royal Institute who was present at yesterday’s meeting, I can assure you this did NOT happen. She was quite respectful toward the Supreme Court judges and their decision.

Chatura Muthukumarana: She said she respected the Supreme Court decision at yesterday’s meeting. Article is false.

Miuranga Suriyapatabendi: What a false article. I was there at the meeting and there was no mention of going against the sc and using political power

Thushmi Sooriyaarachchi: This is actually a false interpretation of what was actually discussed

Sarith Abeygunawardena: This article is inaccurate and fabricated. I was at this meeting and Dr. Nirodha said nothing of this sort. In fact, she affirmed to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling.

However whilst investigating the matter further Colombo Telegraph can confirm that besides Sarith Abeygunawardena the rest which includes Chathura Muthukumarana, Miruanga Suriyapatabendi and Thushmi Sooriyaarachchi have all published that they are past students of Royal Institute on their Facebook profiles.

Colombo Telegraph has in its possession all their Facebook profile details to confirm this claim.

Colombo Telegraph can also confirm that another Facebook profile has been created named “RI Nugegoda – Supreme Court Judgment Discussion Forum” where Chathura Muthukumarana, Dr. Nirodha Bandara, Nevanka Jayatilleke and Duminda Perera are administrators of the page.

What now is of most concern is the value systems that may have been inculcated into the so called past pupils by the Senior Management of Royal Institute International School.

A parent who was at the meeting speaking to Colombo Telegraph on condition of anonymity said “I don’t believe how these past pupils could go on to blatantly lie and cover up for Dr. Nirodha. I was there at the meeting and I heard what she said. Even this recording has been heard by many parents on several other social media platforms. What are they doing? Are they making these past pupils liars? I am really upset at the mind sets of Chairman G.T. Bandara and Dr. Nirodha Bandara. What examples are they setting for themselves, the school and now the kids? It seems they will use anyone as long as they can protect their business. What really upset me at the meeting is when Dr. Nirodha appearing to be teary eyed said that she was concerned about the 1600 students and 200 employed staff. If she had any love for kids how come she terminated two kids just to take revenge from two parents named Booso and Manjula who were outspoken parents of the respective branch schools that their children studied at? What did those innocent kids do to suffer at their hands? Delay of payment of school fees during the same term is not a crime. After all they charge 15% interest for a delay in payment. Now they have demonstrated they want the parents to go and scold the residents who filed the case. They want to use the kids for social media smear campaigns? And mind you this is all besides Chairman G.T. Bandara and Dr. Nirodha both continuing to be vocal against the order given by the Supreme Court. I really wonder what Cambridge UK has to say regarding all of this and the bad example their affiliated branch in Sri Lanka is setting?”

Earlier Colombo Telegraph in a series of exposes highlighted the injustices that parents and children of Royal Institute were subjected to at the hands of their former Administrative Director and Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne.

However at the last concluded meeting Dr. Nirodha Bandara confirmed that the Retired Major General had tendered his resignation from his post as Administration Director citing personal reasons. (By Janaka Ranaweera)