-An Amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No.15 of 1979 had been presented to Parliament to authorize the Magistrate to dispense with the requirement of producing suspects or accused persons in person before the Magistrate for extending orders relating to committal to remand custody, in view of avoiding the repetition of unfortunate and violent incidents that occurred recently while transporting prisoners to the courts, However, approval could not be granted to the same due to the Prorogation of Parliament.

Accordingly, the proposal made by the Minister of Justice to further amend the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979 and to instruct the legal draftsman to prepare amending legislation accordingly, enabling to facilitate the accused and suspected persons to appear before courts by using contemporaneous audio visual links and to provide such facilities for the accused and suspected persons being rehabilitated under a judicial order in a different case, taking also into account the new trends that have arisen under the Covid-19 pandemic, was approved by the Cabinet.