The Supreme Court has granted permission to proceed against Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon and other police officers in relation to the arrest of protesters at Lipton Circus and Colpetty in 2020, while they were staging a protest against the US police killing of George Floyd.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprised of Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Janak de Silva, and Mahinda Samayawardena, granted leave to proceed in two Fundamental Rights petitions filed under Articles 11, 12(1), 12(2), 13(1), 13(2), 14(1) (a) and 14(1) (b) of the constitution.
These Fundamental Rights petitions were filed by twenty-four petitioners, including Frontline Socialist Party Leader Kumar Gunaratnam, Duminda Nagamuwa, and Attorney-at-law Nuwan Bopage, in response to arbitrary, malicious, and discriminatory police action.
The Petitioners claim that their arrests are arbitrary, unreasonable, and illegal, and that they violate their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
