Supreme Court rules arrest of Wasantha Mudalige under PTA unlawful

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka today (March 19) ruled that the police violated the fundamental rights of Wasantha Mudalige, former convenor of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF), by arresting and detaining him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) during the 2022 protest movement.

The decision was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna, with the concurrence of Justices Arjuna Obeysekera and Priyantha Fernando, following a hearing of a petition filed on behalf of Wasantha Mudalige by Attorney Manjula Balasuriya while he was in detention.

The petition challenged the arrest and detention of Wasantha Mudalige under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, following a protest organized by the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) on August 18, 2022.

Delivering the verdict after a lengthy hearing, the bench stated that the respondents had failed to present sufficient reasonable suspicion to justify detaining Wasantha Mudalige under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The respondents named in the petition included former Inspector General of Police C.D. Wickramaratne, former Senior Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, and former Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Kavinda Piyasekara, among others.

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