- Capitulates to pressure from RTI Comm. threatening legal action
The Police has released the information pertaining to the non-provision of security to former Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Director, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shani Abeysekara, in the wake of the Right to Information (RTI) Commission preparing to initiate legal action against them over the same.
As the Police had failed to respond to a RTI request filed by Journalist Tharindu Iranga Jayawardhana seeking the relevant information, the latter had filed an appeal with the Commission. The Commission had then concluded that the Police had violated the provisions of the RTI Act, No. 12 of 2016, and had ordered the release of the information in question before 12 December, 2022.
However, Jayawardhana recently said that as the Police had not complied with the order, the Commission had decided to file a case in the relevant Magistrate's Court. The Commission had informed him to submit an affidavit to the effect that he had not been provided with the relevant information.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (28), Jayawardhana said that following the notification regarding the Commission's preparations to initiate legal action against the Police, the relevant information had been provided to him with the signature of the Inspector General of Police Chandana D. Wickramaratne.
Through a RTI request dated 9 September 2022, Jayawardhana had requested the Police to provide him with the copies of the letter issued by the National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crimes and Witnesses informing the Police to provide Abeysekara with security and several letters shared between Wickramaratne and senior Police officials regarding the same.
A number of parties have filed appeals with the Commission against the Police in the past few months, alleging that the Police was not responding to requests made under the RTI Act. Notable among them were the appeals filed regarding Abeysekara's security and the purchase and use of tear gas during the past few years.