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Rajagiriya accident case: SC rules two policemen violated fundamental rights of wife of former minister’s driver
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that two police officers from the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) violated the Fundamental Rights of the wife of a former driver attached to former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, by illegally arresting and detaining her, along with her mother and her 23-month-old child, after inquiring about the whereabouts of her husband in connection with the controversial Rajagiriya accident case.
The Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justices S. Thurairaja, Mahinda Samayawardhena and Arjuna Obeyesekere ordered police officers Nevil Silva and G.J. Nandana to pay a compensation of Rs. 250,000 each to the petitioner Iresha Lakmali, wife of Dilum Thusitha who once worked as the driver of former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka.
The two respondents were further ordered to pay the said compensation within six months from the date of judgement, out of their personal funds and National Police Commission was directed to take appropriate disciplinary action against the Respondents.
“The conduct of the Respondents, judged even by the lowest of standards, is a magnificent failure of all that the Rule of Law stands for. They have no doubt acted in a manner unbefitting of public office. How are we to sympathize with their contention of bona fides when they have been absolutely insensitive towards even the most basic needs of the arrestees? The fact that the Petitioner had to breastfeed the child inside the vehicle tells us that the Respondents have had scant regard towards her dignity and even the mere rudiments of human decency,” Justice Thurairaja observed.
The petitioner stated that on 15th December 2019, a group of police officers attached to the Imaduwa Police Station and the Colombo Crime Division, visited the residence of the Petitioner’s mother where the Petitioner was residing at the time with her toddler looking for her husband.
Following this, the police officers had asked the Petitioner to accompany them to Colombo as the Petitioner’s husband was no longer reachable over the phone. The Petitioner states that she initially resisted this request stating that she could not possibly leave her toddler at home. Thereafter, to her dismay, the officers had insisted that she bring her toddler with her.
The officers had departed the Petitioner’s residence at around 12.45 a.m., along with the Petitioner, her mother and the toddler, huddled inside a police vehicle. Around 4.30 a.m., the said vehicle had reached a place, which the Petitioner discerned to be Jayanthipura, Battaramulla, from the conversations between the officers. Petitioner later found it to be the Colombo Crime Division in Dematagoda.
There, too, the officers had kept the vehicle parked outside for approximately three hours. Thereafter, the officers had dropped the Petitioner, along with her mother and child, at her home in Imaduwa at around 12 p.m. on 16th December 2019, having left Dematagoda at around 10 a.m.
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