An Extraordinary Gazette has amended the Standing Orders of the Department of Prisons to set out how a Buddhist monk’s robes are to be handled when he is jailed and when he is taken out of prison — giving the decision to his Nikaya rather than to prison officers, and extending the same protection to clergy of other religions.
The notification was issued by Acting Commissioner General of Prisons R. Prasad Hemantha Kumara with the approval of the Minister of Justice and National Integration, under powers held by the Commissioner of Prisons under the Prisons Ordinance, Hiru News reported.
What the rules now say
When a monk is admitted to prison as a prisoner, the Department of Prisons must consult the Department of Buddhist Affairs before his robes are removed. The Department of Buddhist Affairs must then notify the relevant Nikaya or chapter, and the Nikaya’s decision must reach the Commissioner of Prisons within 10 days. If no response comes within that period, the Commissioner may act under the existing provisions.
When a monk is taken out of prison — on release, or to be produced before a court — he is entitled to wear the same robes he was wearing when he was admitted. Where the relevant Nikaya has not given its approval, the Commissioner must proceed under the prescribed provisions.
The gazette states that these provisions apply, with necessary modifications, to priests of other religions when they are imprisoned and released.
The gazette itself names its number, and two dates
Hiru published the gazette’s first page, which is legible and supplies detail the report does not.
It is Extraordinary Gazette No. 2511/30, dated Tuesday, 20 October 2026. It is made under the Prisons Ordinance (Chapter 54), section 6(2) and (3), and it works by inserting a new standing order — 356A — immediately after Standing Order 356.
The document carries a second, earlier date: it was signed at Colombo on 15 October 2026, five days before it was gazetted. Neither date was reported, and the gap between the two is not explained.
The new order’s number matters because it is the one the prison regulations committee asked for. Its interim report on 14 October recommended exactly this — a new 356A, with monks keeping their robes outside jail unless their Nikaya objected. The gazette adopts that recommendation.
Why this was contested
The question has been live since Gnanasara Thera was returned to Welikada prison and his robes removed, which produced a Supreme Court fundamental rights petition, a writ application in the Court of Appeal, a march to Colombo and a continuing satyagraha.
It also answers a question a judge said a court could not reach. On Friday the Colombo High Court said it had no power to order Gnanasara Thera’s robe reinstated, and the judge asked what would follow for the many other monks serving sentences if such a request were granted. The gazette supplies a general rule in place of a case-by-case one, which is the answer to that objection.
Not reported
The gazette’s effect on Gnanasara Thera specifically is not stated, and no official has said whether it applies to monks already in custody or only to future admissions. The Supreme Court petition on the same subject was put off to January after the state cited the reform committee; no party has said what the gazette does to those proceedings.
Neither the Prisons Department nor the Ministry of Justice has issued a public statement, and no Nikaya has yet responded.
Ada Derana also carried the gazette, under the headline “Gazette issued on procedures regarding removal of imprisoned Buddhist monks’ robes”, but its site has been returning a CloudFront block for more than five weeks and the report could not be retrieved or dated, so it is not cited here.
Update: the Daily Mirror confirms a second amended order, and the seven-day deadline
The Daily Mirror filed its own account on Saturday afternoon, under the headline “New regulations gazetted on imprisoned Buddhist monks’ attire”, quoting Standing Order 356A directly. Its text matches the account above on every element: consultation with the Department of Buddhist Affairs before robes are removed, notification of the relevant Nikaya or Chapter, a ten-day window for the Nikaya’s response, and the Commissioner’s power to act under existing provisions if no response comes.
It adds two things Hiru did not report.
The gazette amends a second standing order. Alongside the new 356A, Standing Order 550 — which governs prison clothing — has been amended to provide that where a monk is taken out of prison in the capacity of a prisoner, he shall be allowed to wear the robes he was wearing at the time of imprisonment. The account above described that entitlement; the Daily Mirror identifies the order it was written into.
The seven-day condition is now verified. This article previously recorded that the aggregator Newswire reported a further requirement — that the Commissioner must ask the Department of Buddhist Affairs to seek the Nikaya’s approval within seven working days of imprisonment — and noted that Newswire does not count toward this site’s credibility index. The Daily Mirror carries the same condition, attributing it to the amended Standing Order 550, so it is confirmed by a verified newsroom and no longer rests on an aggregator.
Note that the gazette therefore runs two clocks at once: seven working days for the Commissioner to initiate the request, and ten days for the Nikaya’s answer to reach him. Neither report says what happens where those periods conflict.
Sources: A special gazette notification amending the rules on removing robes when detaining and releasing monks — Hiru News, October 24 (Sinhala).