The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) yesterday informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court that they had not received instructions from the Attorney General (AG) to arrest the Peliyagoda Police officers who were involved in the assault on law student Migara Gunaratne.
When the matter was taken up before Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Nelumdeniya, CCD officers stated that they were still conducting an inquiry regarding the incident.
However, Counsel Gunaratne Wanninayake appearing on behalf of Law Student Migara Gunaratne said the Police had failed to arrest the officers who were involved in the assault incident.
Counsel Wanninayake said that the AG had directed IGP to arrest the officers involved in the incident a week ago and produce them in Court.
The Attorney General has also instructed that charges be filed against the relevant Police officers under the Torture Act.
However, the CCD said that although it had commenced an independent inquiry regarding the matter, it had not received the complaint or a statement from Law Student Migara Gunaratne.
Responding to the above statement, Counsel Wanninayake said that his client was ready to provide a statement at any given time to the CCD but before that Police have to properly submit a statement to the Court. He said that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) was conducting an extensive inquiry into the matter and he was appearing to the case under instructions of President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris, the incoming President of the BASL.
After taking into consideration, the Additional Magistrate observed that he could not proceed with the case if the Police had failed to report the facts accurately.
The Additional Magistrate ordered the CCD to obtain a complaint and to record statements from Migara Gunaratne. The case was further postponed till March 23.
