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| Tuesday, 18 May 2004 |
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The Supreme Court yesterday awarded Rs. 500,000 as compensation to former Secretary of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka W. Dayaratne after upholding his Fundamental Rights petition filed against Officers of the Bambalapitiya Police for assault. The compensation is payable by the State. The incident took place on 17th June, 2003 near Pedris Park when the petitioner attempted to intervene to save one of his neighbour's sons being assaulted by a group of police officers. The Bench comprised Justices C.V. Wigneswaran, Asoka de Silva and Hector S. Yapa. The Registrar of the Supreme Court was directed to send copies of the order to the IGP and the Police Commission. According to the petitioner on 17th June, he was in his home when he heard his neighbour Jayakrishnan's wife shouting. Petitioner went towards her home, he saw Jayakrishnan's son and two police officers and it transpired that Mr. Jayakrishnan's son had knocked a man said to be a police officer and had not stopped the vehicle. The petitioner immediately informed him (Jayakrishnan's son) that he must surrender to the police. The police directed Jayakrishnan's son to drive his own vehicle and a policeman sat on the passenger seat in front and another behind. One policeman was armed. The petitioner due to the entreaties of Jayakrishnan's wife (the mother of the said son) followed that car in his own car. The aforesaid car driven by Jayakrishnan's son stopped near the Pedris Park which was supposed to be the scene of the earlier incident where the said son was said to have knocked a police officer. The petitioner himself then got down at the said place. After a short time many police officers converged on the site. A police officer assaulted Jayakishnan's son. Petitioner then said "do your duty but please do not assault the boy" and identified himself as a lawyer. At that point of time, a person who was kicking Jayakrishnan's son kicked the petitioner. The petitioner was thereafter assaulted by several police officers on his head, hands and face. Petitioner tried to escape by running across the road when he heard a person shouting "shoot him". He immediately stopped. He was further assaulted. The Court ruled that Petitioner's Fundamental Rights under Articles 11,12(1), 13(1) and 13(2) had been violated. Romesh de Silva PC with Harsha Amarasekera and Sugath Caldera instructed by Paul Ratnayake Associates appeared for the petitioner. |
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