The Court of Appeal today re-fixed for support for October 17, a writ petition which sought an order directing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Director of the CID to commence an investigation into the Welikada prison riot in 2012 resulting in the death of 27 prisoners.
When the petition came up before Court of Appeal (President) Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya and Justice Shiran Gunaratne, counsel who appeared on behalf of the petitioner sought a further date to support the petition.
Sudesh Nandimal Silva who was in remand custody at the time of the alleged incidents took place had filed this writ petition citing Commissioner General of Prisons, Director of CID, Inspector General of Police, Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs and the Attorney General as respondents.
The petitioner stated that he was wishing to bring to the attention of the Court what he saw and was within his personal knowledge of the said tragic incidents for the purpose of obtaining the reliefs.
On November 9, 2012 at about 1.00 pm the petitioner and other prisoners at Welikada prison received information that personnel from the Army and STF were about to enter the prison to conduct a search operation. The petitioner got to know that here was an argument between prison officials and a contingent TID, STF waiting at the gate of the prison on the procedure related to the search operation.
The petitioner stated that the prison was in the control of the Army until 10 am on November 10, 2012. By that time 27 of the prison inmates had been killed by STF/Army/TID/Prison Intelligence. The petitioner has made a complaint to the CID on February 2, 2015.
The petitioner stated that although four years has lapsed since the brutal killings of these prisoners no action has yet been taken by the police or the Attorney General to conduct the investigation and prosecute the offenders.
This petition was filed through senior counsel K.S. Ratnavale and Counsel Senaka Perera.