Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ruled that the fundamental rights of Public Security Ministry Secretary Ravi Seneviratne and CID DIG Shani Abeysekara were violated by police officers during investigations into Easter Sunday attack allegations, ordering compensation totalling Rs. 120,000.
The Supreme Court delivered a judgment finding that former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon, retired DIG Palitha Siriwardena, and former Chief Police Inspector Induka de Silva violated the fundamental rights of Ravi Seneviratne and Shani Abeysekara through investigations stemming from a complaint lodged during the last presidential election period. Justice Gihan Kulatunga, delivering the judgment with the concurrence of Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Achala Wengappuli, determined that Siriwardena's complaint was motivated by political considerations rather than legitimate investigative grounds.
The Court ordered Siriwardena to pay Rs. 50,000 compensation to each of the two petitioners, while de Silva was directed to pay Rs. 10,000 to each. According to one source, the original complaint alleged that Seneviratne and Abeysekara had deliberately suppressed intelligence warnings related to the Easter Sunday attacks. The petitioners had filed a fundamental rights petition seeking protection from arrest under anti-terrorism legislation, arguing the complaint was fabricated for political purposes.
The Supreme Court's ruling also prohibited further arrest or detention of the petitioners in relation to the complaint and ordered that no additional investigations be conducted against them on this matter. The judgment concluded that initiating investigations based on the malicious complaint had constituted a violation of the petitioners' fundamental rights. The case reflects disputed allegations concerning official responses to pre-attack intelligence, with the Court determining the investigating officers acted on politically motivated grounds rather than credible evidence.