brand logo

SC orders IGP to report on Lohan incident probe progress 

17 Feb 2022

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana D. Wickramaratne to hand over a progress report on the investigations regarding the allegations against former Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation State Minister and incumbent Gem and Jewellery-Related Industries State Minister Lohan Ratwatte over breaking into the Anuradhapura Prison Complex and threatening some of its inmates last year.  This order was given when the fundamental rights (FR) petition, which was filed at the SC on 30 September 2021 by eight Tamil inmates, was called for hearing on Wednesday (15), in front of President’s Counsel (PC) and Justice S. Thurairaja, and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeysekere. The SC has previously issued notice to hear the petition and has directed the IGP to conduct an investigation into the incident.  Representing the inmates, PC M.A. Sumanthiran has requested the SC to inquire from the IGP about the progress of the said investigations.  The case is due to be heard again on 9 August. The petition is SC FR 297/2021. The petitioners are, namely, Poopalasingham Sooriyapalan, Mathiyarasan Sulakshan, Ganesan Tharshan, Kanthappu Kajenthiran, Rasathurai Thiruvarul, Ganesamurthi Sithurshan, Meiyamutthu Suthaharan, and T. Kantharuban. The respondents are Ratwatte, Anuradhapura Prison Superintendent M.H.R. Ajith, Prisons Commissioner General H.M. Thushara N. Upuldeniya, Justice Minister M.U.M. Ali Sabry PC, and Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam PC.  They have sought a declaration to be made that their FR petition, guaranteed under Articles 11 (freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, or punishment), 12(1) (right to equality and equal protection of the law), and 12(2) (freedom from discrimination and the right to non-discrimination) of the Constitution, have been infringed. The petitioners have further prayed for interim orders for their transfer to prisons in the Northern Province, preferably the Jaffna Prison, and for them to be enlarged on bail. On 12 September 2021, an inebriated and pistol-brandishing Ratwatte had allegedly flown in a helicopter to the Anuradhapura Prison where he had summoned a group of Tamil political prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (reports state between eight to 16 such prisoners), and ordered them to kneel, and had proceeded to threaten two of them (Sulakshan – prisoner number 141 whose case is being heard at the Vavuniya High Court – and Tharshan), at point blank range, telling them to accept their offence/s and to submit to authority. Prior to this incident, on 6 September 2021, Ratwatte had, together with a group of friends, also under the influence of liquor, allegedly forcibly entered the Welikada Prison premises after 6 p.m. and proceeded to view the gallows. As per Section 39 of the Prisons Ordinance, a parliamentarian who wishes to pay a visit to a prison can only do so between the hours of 5.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. The Prisons Department, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and the Police Criminal Investigations Department have since commenced investigations into the incidents, whilst Ali Sabry PC appointed High Court Judge (Retd.) Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena to independently inquire into the incidents. Ratwatte resigned from his post of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation State Minister on 15 September and he claimed to have, as per a Tweet by the President’s Spokesman, accepted responsibility for the incidents at the Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the same Tweet mentioned, had accepted the said resignation. However, in subsequent statements made to the media, Ratwatte had denied all related allegations against him.


More News..