The State on behalf of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) gave an undertaking to the Court of Appeal on 2 November 2023, to issue a police circular within one week, listing guidelines for the Police Department when handling lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer and questioning (LGBTIQ) individuals in Sri Lanka.
After much delays on the part of the State, a LGBTIQ organisation that advocates for the human rights of LGBTIQ persons, Equal Ground managed to achieve yet another legal win for the LGBTIQ community in Sri Lanka.
In a video circulated on social media in 2021, a mental health counsellor Ama Dissanayake was seen conducting a Police training programme in Kandy where she made derogatory and malicious statements against the LGBTIQ community in Sri Lanka. Subsequently, Equal Ground’s Executive Director Rosanna Flamer-Caldera and nine others filed a writ petition (CA/Writ 425/21), against the Police and Dissanayake in the Court of Appeal (CA), stating that the conduct of the former in permitting the latter as a facilitator who condemned the LGBTIQ community, is an abuse of power.
After several postponements, the State informed Court that they are willing to consider issuing a Police circular with guidelines and later Circular Number 2740/22 dated 27 December 2022, was circulated among senior police officers. The case was terminated. However, this circular was restricted to only include transgender persons and persons undergoing gender transition as opposed to the entire LGBTIQ community. Equal Ground, with the support of its legal team, once again reopened the Court of Appeal case and proposed that the circular be amended to reflect all inclusive terminology. The State accommodated this request and moved to replace the above phrases with the term “LGBTIQ community.” The amended circular is to be issued within a week.
“We are really pleased with this undertaking by the Police as per Court instructions,” said Flamer-Caldera. “We are very proud of this ruling.”
Equal Ground advises all LGBTIQ community members to carry copies of both the original circular and this amendment, from now on for protection against confrontations.
It is also noteworthy that the circular’s guidelines are subject to the existing criminalising Penal laws that deem same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults as an offense.
(The writer is an attorney-at-law and is the Deputy Executive Director [Acting] and Projects Officer at Equal Ground)