Supreme Court Greenlights Shani Abeysekara’s Fundamental Rights Case

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Supreme Court granted permission to proceed with the hearing of fundamental rights petitions filed by Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Shani Abeysekara, and two other CID officials. 

The petitions claim that their arrest by the Colombo Crimes Division, without any justifiable reason, and subsequent remand violated their fundamental rights.

The petitions were considered before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Mahinda Samayawardhana, Priyantha Fernando, and Sobhitha Rajakaruna.

Senior Superintendent Of Police Shani Abeysekara, along with then Police Inspectors Sudath Mendis and H.D.M. Premathilaka, filed the fundamental rights petitions.

Attorney-at-Law Shanta Jayawardena, appearing for Shani Abeysekara, clarified the circumstances his client had faced.

Key points raised included the following:

Just four days after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected President in November 2019, Shani Abeysekara, who was serving as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, was transferred to serve as the personal assistant to the Deputy Inspector General of Police in the Southern Province.

At that time, investigations under Abeysekara’s leadership were underway into several high-profile cases, including the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, the abduction of journalist Keith Noyahr, the attempted murder of journalist Poddala Jayantha, the abduction and killing of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, and the assault on Divaina editor Upali Tennakoon.

Following the transfer, on January 7, 2020, Shani Abeysekara was suspended from duty.

On July 31, 2020, officers from the Colombo Crimes Division arrested Abeysekara and several others, alleging that they had fabricated false evidence in a case filed against former Deputy Inspector General Vaas Gunawardena.

After nearly ten months in remand custody, they were released on bail based on advice from the Attorney General.

At the time of the arrest, no credible evidence had been presented by the Colombo Crimes Division to support the allegations.

The petitions emphasized that the arrest of Shani. Abeysekara and the two other officers was politically motivated, unlawful, and carried out with malice.

Attorneys-at-Law Shehan de Silva and Hafeel Fariz, appearing for Sudath Mendis and H.D.M. Premathilaka, revealed that their clients had been pressured by the Colombo Crimes Division to testify against Shani Abeysekara.

They stated that their refusal to comply led to their arrest and remand without any justifiable reason.

The respondents named in the petitions include then Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, former Assistant Superintendent of Police Neville de Silva of the Colombo Crimes Division, and a police inspector from the same division.

Attorney-at-Law Sanjeewa Weerawickrama, representing the respondents, argued that the arrests followed investigations into the fabrication of evidence in the case against Vaas Gunawardena and were carried out in accordance with judicial orders.

He rejected claims of politically motivated arrests, stating that no supporting evidence had been presented to the court.

Senior State Counsel Sajith Bandara, appearing for the Attorney General, clarified that the Attorney General had no involvement in the arrest process and had advised the police to release the petitioners due to insufficient grounds for prosecution.

After reviewing the submissions, the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that a hearing should be held to determine whether the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 12(1) and 13(1) of the Constitution had been violated.

The court ordered that objections, if any, be filed by January 12, and counter-objections by February 12. 

The petitions will be taken up for hearing on May 14.