Supreme Court rules Deshabandu and two others violated rights of Shani, Ravi
Ravi Seneviratne and Shani Abeysekara
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ruled that former Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon and two others violated the fundamental rights of Shani Abeysekara and Ravi Seneviratne by initiating investigations against them during the previous presidential election period.
The investigations were launched following a complaint made by retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Palitha Siriwardena, who had requested an investigation in connection with the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.
The Supreme Court found that the complaint submitted by Siriwardena to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was malicious and politically motivated.
The judgment stated that initiating investigations based on the complaint violated the fundamental rights of Abeysekara, a former CID Director who currently oversees the department following his promotion to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), and retired Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne, who currently serves as Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security.
The Court ordered retired DIG Palitha Siriwardena to pay Rs. 50,000 each in compensation to Abeysekara and Seneviratne.
It also ordered Induka de Silva, who was then a Chief Inspector attached to the CID and conducted the investigation, to pay Rs. 10,000 each to the two petitioners.
The judgment was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Gihan Kulatunga, with the concurrence of Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Achala Wengappuli.
The ruling followed a fundamental rights petition filed by Abeysekara and Seneviratne during the previous presidential election period, seeking an order preventing their unlawful arrest in connection with investigations relating to the Easter Sunday attacks.