The Supreme Court has ruled that three police officers attached to the Negombo Divisional Criminal Investigation Department violated the fundamental rights of a jewellery businessman from Kuliyapitiya by subjecting him to physical assault, harassment and unlawful detention during a police investigation.
The court ordered the three officers to personally pay Rs. 100,000 each, amounting to Rs. 300,000, as compensation to the businessman.
The ruling was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Justices A.L. Shiran Gooneratne, Mahinda Samayawardhena and Menaka Wijesundera.
The fundamental rights petition was filed by Sahul Hameed Sashek, also known as Shaul Hameed Mohamed Sufaik, a jewellery shop owner in Kuliyapitiya.
According to the judgment, the businessman alleged that police officers had assaulted and threatened him while investigating a case involving gold he had unknowingly purchased from a suspect.
He claimed that officers arrived at his home while he was away and threatened to arrest his wife and children unless he returned immediately.
Upon returning home, he alleged that he was handcuffed, forced to kneel and brutally assaulted in front of his wife and children.
The businessman further claimed that he was repeatedly assaulted inside a vehicle and forced to surrender gold and money to the officers.
According to the petition, CCTV cameras installed at his jewellery shop captured part of the incident involving the handing over of gold.
He also alleged that officers forced him to consume alcohol and threatened him against reporting the assaults to medical officers or the court.
The police officers denied the allegations, maintaining that the businessman had been lawfully arrested as part of an investigation and that gold items and foreign currency had been recovered.
However, the Supreme Court rejected their explanations, finding that the evidence presented by the petitioner supported his allegations.
Justice Menaka Wijesundera, delivering the judgment, observed that the officers’ denials were insufficiently credible to dismiss the businessman’s complaint.
The court also considered medical records and documentary evidence submitted by the petitioner.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court determined that Inspector D.R.A. Gihan Manohara and Police Constables M.A. Amal Sanjeewa and V.G. Bandara had violated the petitioner’s fundamental rights under Articles 11, 12(1) and 13(2) of the Constitution.
These provisions protect individuals against torture and cruel treatment, guarantee equality before the law and safeguard the rights of individuals held in custody.
The court ordered each of the three officers to pay Rs. 100,000 to the petitioner within six months.
Justices A.L. Shiran Gooneratne and Mahinda Samayawardhena agreed with the judgment delivered by Justice Menaka Wijesundera. (Newswire)