Award winning novelist Shakthika Sathkumara who was charged under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act over a short story he published in the social media said he is unable to support his family financially being unemployed.
Sathkumara was refused employment at the Irrigation Department over his book even though he was to report to work following bail last week.
In early April Sathkumara was jailed over his short story ‘Ardha’, a frame story inspired by postmodern literary tradition that explores subjects such as the relationship Siddhartha (who goes on to become the Buddha) had with Yaśodharā and sexual abuse in Buddhist temples.
Sathkumara was produced before the Polgahawela Magistrate following a complaint lodged with the Polgahawela police by Monks representing the Polgahawela Saha Pothuhera Shasanarakshaka Bala Mandala. He was charged under the ICCPR Act and granted bail by the Kurunegala High Court in August.
Prior to the incident Sathkumara was employed as a Development Officer at the Polgahawela Divisional Secretariat where he was suspend from work with compulsory leave.
The writer who had many national and international groups and individuals condemning the treatment he had to undergo, received a letter in October by the Director General of Combined Services K.V.P.M.J. Gamage requesting him to report to the Director General of the Irrigation Department. On November 4 Sathkumara was to take up work for the first time since being granted bail. However, he had undergo harsh treatment from officials of the Department who said he was not fit to be employed as he had written against Buddhist monks.
At around 1.30pm the same day he received a letter addressed to the Director General of Combined Services from Eng IDS Samarasooriya an Additional Irrigation Director General, on behalf of the Director General of Irrigation, urging Sathkumara to be transferred to another section.
In her letter Samarasooriya states although there is a large number of vacancies at the Department for Development Officers Service it is problematic to absorb an individual who has faced disciplinary actions. “Considering the facts I kindly request to consider the transfer of this person to another appropriate office,” she adds.Sathkumara has written to the Combined Services’ Director General regarding the abrupt denial.
“I really don’t know what to do next,” Sathkumara told the Sunday Observer. The father of two who relys on his wife’s salary to support his family and pay off the loan he took to build his house is now helpless.
Sathkumara’s two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son are oblivious to their parents’ plight. His son who was psychologically affected during his absence from April to August is recovering with the presence of his father.
The Kurunegala Magistrate Court will hear his case again on December 10, 2019.