A writ petition filed by a lawyer seeking an order directing the CID to arrest Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon for his failure to prevent attacks on peaceful protesters at Galle Face was today dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal’s two-judge bench, comprised of Justices Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and M.A.R. Marikkar, decided to dismiss the petition in limine, taking into account the objections raised by Deshabandu Tennakoon through his lawyer, Romesh de Silva PC.
Attorney-at-law Ramalingam Ranjan filed this petition, naming Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon, IGP Chandana Wickremaratne, and CID Director Kavinda Piyasekera as respondents.
The petitioner sought an order in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus to compel the Attorney General and police to make Deshabandu Tennakoon a suspect in the case at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court relating to the attacks on peaceful protesters at Galle Face.
The petitioner claimed that Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was supposed to stop the unruly marchers from breaking out from the Temple Trees, had failed to prevent them from entering “MinaGoGama” and “GotaGoGama” and, in contrast, aided and abetted the said attacks on the peaceful protestors.
The petitioner further said Colombo Fort Magistrate several times had reminded the reluctance and the prolonged delay by the CID to carry out their duties diligently on Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon.
The Magistrate observed that Deshabandu Tennakoon was having an intimate conversation with the
Parliamentarian Sanath Nishantha, who was the fifth suspect at the time the attack took place,
President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne appeared for the petitioner.
