YouTuber Sepal got over rs. 16 Mn ANNUALLY FROM HIS CHANNEL

Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna De Alwis yesterday ordered to further remand a social media activist Sepal Amarasinghe till January 17. He was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department for making defamatory comments regarding the Sacred Tooth relic.

When the matter was taken up before the Magistrate, Senior Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris appearing on behalf of the Attorney General’s Department informed the Magistrate that an investigation has been launched following complaints made by the Director General of the Department of Buddhist Affairs and the Director of the Buddhist Information Centre Ven.Aguruwelle Jinananda Thera.

SDSG Dileepa Peiris further stated that suspect has earned Rs.1.4 million per month through his YouTube channel. He also noted that the Director General of Archeology has also informed the CID that a severe harm has been made through this statement.

“The suspect has mentioned in his statement that he is working as a freelance Journalist. He has maintained two websites and a YouTube Channel as well.

There were around 172,000 subscribers and the suspect had made number of defamatory comments through his YouTube channel.

This suspect’s main aim was to earn dollars through YouTube by making defamatory comments regarding the racism,” he added.

SDSG Dileepa Peiris also noted that Buddhism is protected by the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

“Through such videos, extremists in the society are being encouraged. He further mentioned that apart from the economic crisis in the country, religious problems will also arise.

The investigations have been conducted under section 291 of the Penal Code and section 3 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act.

Attorney Namal Rajapakse appearing for the suspect said his client had posted more than 790 videos on his YouTube channel. “Through those videos, he has appeared to protect pure Buddhism from myths, and pointed out that his client has no intention of insulting Buddhism in any way”, the Counsel Rajapakse added. He further requested his client be released on bail under any suitable bail condition.

The Magistrate instructed both parties to handover written submissions on or before January 13. The Magistrate further fixed the bail order for January 17.