Manusha's 'Olu hodamu' poster issue

Suspect who pasted 'Pu* hodamu' ... on top of 'Olu hodamu' .....before psychiatrist!

Galle District parliament member had pasted posters at various places both in Galle and Colombo.

The sentence which focused attention was 'Den ithin olu hodamu'. It is learnt that this poster conveyed the idea that a procedure should be adopted to face the challenge to the pressure exerted by the Geneva Resolution by everyone getting together as a country at this period.
It was during this same period that somebody had thought of pasting a piece of paper with the Sinhala word sounding 'pu*' over the Sinhala word 'olu' in bold letters with the motive of giving it a new interpretation. As such, it then read, 'Dan ithin pu* hodamu'.

Police who received a complaint that a term conveying the idea that instead of the head, a term depicting a posterior part of the body was printed and pasted went into action trying to determine who had done this; subsequently taking the culprit into custody.

It was found that one Ravindra Wickramatunga had been involved in this act.

When the poster with Manusha Nanayakkara appearing in it . accompanied with the wording 'Den ithin olu hodamu' mentioned on it was pasted all over the area in Galle Electorate, the suspect was nabbed when he was in the process of pasting the new word, giving a fresh interpretation. Supporters of Mr. Nanayakkara who got hold of the suspect then handed him over to the police.

When he was produced in Galle courts over this issue, a funny situation arose over the Sinhala Language interpretation. What the lawyer of the suspect told courts was that while displaying posters was against the law, the word concerned was not an indecent one. He further brought out the point that the word has been interpreted even in the dictionary and that there is no other single word for the part denoted in the human body. The lawyer then made a request that since it was not correct to say that this word is obscene a certification should be taken from a Sinhala pundit to ascertain as to whether the word is obscene or not.

The police who directed the complaint said that though the word denoted a certain part of the body, according to the context of the word, its us depends on the manner in which it is used. The police even went further to the extent of calling for a medical report with regard to the suspect.

Chief Magistrate of Galle, Mr. U.S. Kalansuriya who ordered a personal bond of Rs. 2 lakhs, released the suspect and adjourned court proceedings for a later date and had also called for a medical report,requesting that he be produced in front of a Psychiatrist.

Further inquiry has been fixed for June 6th.