Sri Lanka Supreme Court rules rights of senior police officials were violated

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ruled that the fundamental rights of former Inspector General of Police Ravi Seneviratne and former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Shani Abeysekara were violated. The court found that current IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon and two others were responsible for initiating investigations against the two senior officers during a previous presidential election period.

The court determined that the investigations were triggered by a complaint from retired Deputy Inspector General Palitha Siriwardena regarding the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. The bench characterized the complaint as malicious and politically motivated.

As a result of the ruling, the court ordered retired DIG Palitha Siriwardena to pay Rs. 50,000 in compensation to both Abeysekara and Seneviratne. Additionally, Induka de Silva, a former Chief Inspector who conducted the investigation, was ordered to pay Rs. 10,000 each to the petitioners. The judgment was delivered by Justice Gihan Kulatunga, with concurrence from Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Achala Wengappuli.