Police delays in producing a full report on suspected mass graves in the Jaffna islands have led the Kayts Magistrate’s Court to postpone the case until January 05, 2027, after lawyers for victims’ relatives protested at the lack of progress.
The magistrate ordered the case to be recalled when it was taken up on 10 November, more than a year after relatives first complained to the Kayts police.
The relatives lodged their complaint in August 2025. They asked for excavations and a fair investigation at five sites, among them Arali junction, the Mankumban Ganesha temple, Alaveddy and Mandaitivu, where they believe loved ones who disappeared 36 years ago were buried.
Swaminathan Pirakalathan, an independent member of the Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha, told journalists that lawyers for the relatives objected to the continuing delay by the District Criminal Investigation Department.
He said the lawyers, who included Lenin and Poorani Marianayagam, asked the court not to waste time questioning the military and to have the report submitted quickly.
The magistrate then fixed 5 January as the date for the case to be recalled.
The police had already sought more time on September 22, saying their investigation was not complete.
Pirakalathan said the head of the District Criminal Investigation Division told the court on 10 November that it would be hard to establish whether a military camp had stood near the suspected sites 36 years ago and who had commanded it.
He said the officer added that police wished to obtain details from the military, share them with those involved and record statements.
The officer reportedly said police were unsure whether those individuals were still alive, but would try, and that they had no objection to excavations under a court order.
Police have also told the court that gathering information on the camps that existed near the suspected burial sites is a difficult matter.
Pirakalathan said in August 2025 that nearly 60 bodies lay in a single well on the Mandaitivu estate in Jaffna.
He said an eyewitness to the disposal of the bodies was still alive.
Recalling a search operation by government forces 36 years ago, he said the fate of 84 people taken into military custody that day remained unknown.
He claimed that the military killed some of those detained and threw them into wells.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said on a private television channel last year that 17 mass graves had so far been found in Sri Lanka, although human rights activists say many more burial sites are scattered across the island.