The Supreme Court decided that the Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had committed a violation of Fundamental Rights by arresting and remanding a person on a false complaint regarding a financial transaction. Accordingly, the Supreme Court ordered Savin Chaturanga of Gonawala, Pamunuwila, the person who lodged the false complaint to pay Rs.300,000 as compensation to the victim. Inspector M.M.J. Marasinghe, the OIC of the Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department, who made the arrest was ordered to pay Rs.75,000. Rs. 25,000 each is to be paid separately by Inspector A.S.Sudasinghe and Police Constable H.G.C.P. Priyadarshana.
A person named Ganesan Samson Roy, a resident of Colombo 5, filed this petition complaining that his Fundamental Rights were violated by his arrest based on a false complaint made regarding a personal financial transaction.
Eight people including the OIC of the Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department, M.M.J.Marasinghe, PC Savin Chaturanga, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General were named as respondents in the petition.
After hearing this petition, with the approval of the Supreme Court judges, A.H.M.D.Nawaz and and Mahinda Samayawardena, Supreme Court Judge Buvaneka Aluvihare announced the unanimous decision.
The judgement shows that the responsible police officers have arrested the petitioner without investigating the truth or falsity of the complaint and the mechanism of justice should not be operated to fulfil the narrow goals of someone.
This judgment has shown that the power of the Police to arrest a person should not be used to achieve such narrow objectives and by doing so, the rule of law will be violated and public confidence in the legal process will be decayed.
On the basis of a complaint filed by Savin Chaturanga to the Criminal Investigation Department on July 1, 2018, that the petitioner did not act according to a financial agreement made for the import of two BMW cars, the respondent Police officers arrested the petitioner on February 1, 2019. After being produced before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court, he was remanded for a period of 8 days.
Supreme Court ruled that the complaint lodged in connection with the incident was confirmed false in the hearing. The panel of judges pointed out that the respondent police officers had made arrests without verifying the facts about the complainant.
Supreme Court pointed out that the power given to the police to arrest a person cannot be used arbitrarily. The bench pointed out that the respondent police officers had arrested the petitioner after five months of filing the complaint. It also states that they had sufficient time to conduct a formal investigation into the complaint.
The Bench has ruled that the basic rights of the person have been violated by arresting the concerned person without verifying the truth or falsity of the facts.The Bench decided that there had been a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 12(1) and 13(2) of the Constitution.
Counsel Senani Dayaratne appeared for the petitioner and Senior Solicitor Indunil Punchihewa appeared for the respondents.
Nelka Medagedara