The Supreme Court has granted the Attorney General time till January 31 to file objections to 61 fundamental rights petitions filed by Jaffna residents who allege they were unlawfully arrested and tortured by the police during the ‘grease devil’ scare last year. The petitioners cited Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya, Jaffna Commander [...]

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State seeks more time to study ‘grease devil’ scare petitions

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The Supreme Court has granted the Attorney General time till January 31 to file objections to 61 fundamental rights petitions filed by Jaffna residents who allege they were unlawfully arrested and tortured by the police during the ‘grease devil’ scare last year.

The petitioners cited Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya, Jaffna Commander Mahinda Hathurasinghe, Police Chief N.K. Illangakoon, 51 Division Commander Janaka Welgama, 512 Brigade Jaffna Commander Ajith Pallawala, Jaffna’s Deputy Inspector General Neil Daluwatta and the Attorney General among others as respondents.

When the case was first taken up in May, the Supreme Court told Deputy Solicitor General Shavindra Fernando to file objections by November 15. But when the case was taken up this week by a bench comprising Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and Justices P.A. Ratnayake and Chandra Ekanayake, he told court he needed more time since there were many petitions to go through.

The 61 petitioners charged that the unlawful arrest, assault and torture by the Jaffna police violated their fundamental rights including the freedom from torture, the right to equality and equal protection of the law and the right to use Tamil as an administrative language in the Northern and Eastern Province.
Presidents Counsel K. Kanag-Iswaran with Shantha Abimanansingham, M.A. Sumanthiran, Viran Corea, Bavani Fonseka, J.C. Weliamuna, Saliya Pieris, Pulasitha Hewamanne instructed by Mohan Balendra appeared for the petitioners.




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