President hints corporal punishment ban bill unlikely to pass

• Penal Code (Amendment) Bill was only debated in Parliament. If people reject that Bill, it will not be enacted

By Ajith Siriwardana

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday hinted that the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to ban corporal punishment, will not be enacted in parliament with his assurance that the government will not enact any Act contrary to people’s wishes.

Commenting on the Bill, the President said that the government will not enact in Parliament any Act which the people do not agree to.

Addressing the 28th convention of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, he said the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill was only debated in Parliament and pointed out that if people reject that Bill, it will not be enacted.

He said laws are enacted not for the rulers but for the people.

The President said there was a time when not only laws but even the Constitution was amended for the benefit of the rulers, and added that the present government will never do so. “We will enact laws that only benefit the people,’ he said.