• Compensation must be paid within four months from the date of the pronouncement of the judgement

The Supreme Court has awarded one million rupees against the five Police Officers attached to Peliyagoda Police Station as compensation for torture leading to the death of a father of two children, a seven-year-old son and a daughter of one month at the time of his death. 

Delivering the judgement, the presiding judge, Justice Preethi Padman Surasena ordered that out of the sum of one million rupees awarded as compensation, a sum of Rs.500,000 should be invested in the names of the two children in equal shares in a state bank. 

According to the judgement, the Supreme Court awarded a sum of one  million rupees as compensation, of which a sum of Rs 750,000 should be paid by the State and Rs 50,000 each by the five respondents personally. The amount of money ordered as compensation must be paid within four months from the date of the pronouncement of the judgement. 

It was revealed during the Post Mortem examination that the cause of death is due to extensive muscle and soft tissue contusions caused by blunt force trauma. 

The petitioner Nilmini Wijesekara, the wife of Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi who is alleged to have died while in Police custody had filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the respondents have violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner’s husband. 

Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Janak de Silva and Justice Mahinda Samayawardena held that the five respondents have infringed the fundamental rights of the Petitioner’s husband Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi guaranteed under Article 11 for freedom from torture and 12(1) of the Constitution. 

The petitioner stated that around 4.00 am on February 25, 2017, five Police Constables Sumedha Thushanga, Indika Priyadharshana, Chanaka Rukman, Ajith Jayalal and Lahiru Roshan had come to their residence in Kaduwela and arrested her husband Chadik Shyaman and taken him to Peliyagoda Police Station. 

• It was clear from the findings of the Post Mortem Examination that the Petitioner’s husband’s death was not due to a wheezing attack. The Post Mortem Report is clear that the cause of death is due to extensive muscle and soft tissue contusions caused by blunt force trauma