Two lawyers, Amila Egodamahawatta and Manoj Nanayakkara, filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court, urging an order to annul the President's decision to appoint Senior DIG Deshabandu Thennakoon as the "acting" Inspector General of Police.
This petition comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court judgment on December 14, where a three-judge bench unanimously ruled that respondents, including the incumbent Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon, violated the fundamental rights of a former army soldier. The violated rights included freedom from torture, unlawful arrest, and arbitrary administrative action that denied equal protection of the law. As a result, the Supreme Court directed the National Police Commission (NPC) and other relevant authorities to take appropriate disciplinary action against the newly appointed Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon and other police officers.
The petitioners argue that, given these circumstances, Deshabandu Tennakoon cannot ethically accept any appointment as Inspector General of Police. Such acceptance, they contend, would constitute an infringement of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the petitioners and other citizens under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.
Furthermore, the petitioners seek an order restraining Deshabandu Tennakoon from assuming the post of Inspector General of Police.
