by Priyalal Sirisena
A bill to incorporate a Christian religious institution in order to spread the religion, has been challenged before the Supreme Court of Colombo.

The petitioner Indrani Devendra is the secretary of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the Attorney General has been cited as the respondent in this case. The alleged bill had been presented to parliament by Mano Ganeshan MP as a bill by a private member. The bill concerned is to establish a Christian institution named "New Wine Harvest Ministries" which purports to promote Christianity, to conduct meetings on Christian religion and to conduct Bible studies. The petitioner states that the said institution may engage in fraudulently converting people into Christianity and hence the said bill should not be passed by parliament for the reason that it violates article 9, 10 and 14 (1) of the Constitution.

The petitioner specifically mentions that it is the duty of the Government of Sri Lanka to protect and promote Buddhism under article 9 of the Constitution and if the bill is to be passed in the parliament, it should be passed by a special majority of parliament and approved by the people at a referendum. The petition prays the court to entertain the case immediately and to issue directions to pass the bill in accordance with the special procedure mentioned above.