{"id":196830,"date":"2018-12-10T17:36:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T12:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=196830"},"modified":"2018-12-11T17:17:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T11:47:38","slug":"petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena&#8217;s Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A writ petition has been filed in the Court of Appeal seeking a mandate in the nature of a writ of Mandamus against IGP Pujith Jayasundara and the Fort Police HQ OIC directing them to institute judicial proceedings in district courts by virtue of section 2 of the Mental Diseases Ordinance for the purpose of inquiring state of mind of President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Maithripala+Sirisena\">Maithripala Sirisena<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_159739\" style=\"width: 486px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-159739\" class=\" wp-image-159739\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"476\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 476px) 100vw, 476px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-159739\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maithripala Sirisena<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A person by the name of Thakshila Jayawardena has filed the petition as a matter of &#8220;public interest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the media from the Huftsdorp courts complex this evening, Counsel Sisira Kumara Siriwardena, a lawyer representing Jaywardena said many citizens in the country had already come to the conclusion that President Siriena was suffering from a mental disability.<\/p>\n<p>He said there were three possible reasons to suspect that Sirisena was suffering from a mental disability including A) The stress stemming from his natural inability to meet the demand of the job B) A history of mental health issues in the family C) Inability to cope with the stresses stemming from the arrest of I.K. Mahanama, the President&#8217;s former Chief of Staff, over a bribery charge.<\/p>\n<p>Siriwardena also said Sirisena&#8217;s biography, written by his daughter <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Chathurika+Sirisena\">Chathurika Sirisena<\/a><\/strong>, indicated that the President had a &#8220;family history&#8221; when it came to mental health issues.<\/p>\n<p>He said the President can only enjoy his immunity only if he is of sound mind. &#8220;If he is suffering from a mental disability he can no longer enjoy presidential immunity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Sri Lankan Constitution bars a person with a mental disability from functioning as the Executive President. &#8220;Any Member of Parliament may, by a writing addressed to the Speaker, give notice of a resolution alleging that the President is permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office by reason of mental or physical infirmity,&#8221; the Constitution stipulates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":159739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena&#039;s Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena&#039;s Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-10T12:06:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-11T11:47:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/\",\"name\":\"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena's Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-10T12:06:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-11T11:47:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg\",\"width\":728,\"height\":410,\"caption\":\"Maithripala Sirisena\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena&#8217;s Mental Health\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena's Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena's Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2018-12-10T12:06:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-11T11:47:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":728,"height":410,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/","name":"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena's Mental Health - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-10T12:06:22+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-11T11:47:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg","width":728,"height":410,"caption":"Maithripala Sirisena"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/petition-seeking-writ-of-mandamus-directing-an-inquiry-into-maithripala-sirisenas-mental-health\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Petition Seeking Writ Of Mandamus Directing An Inquiry Into Maithripala Sirisena&#8217;s Mental Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Maithripala-Sirisena.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196832,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196830\/revisions\/196832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}