Attempting to mislead the court : Magistrate takes Contempt of Court action against IGP

Gampaha Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne has referred a case file to the President of the Court of Appeal to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasooriya over his failure to comply with a court order.

According to BBC Sinhala, the magistrate ruled that the IGP had disregarded the court’s instructions and accused the police of attempting to mislead the judiciary.

The dispute arose from two drug-related cases filed against the same individual by officers of the Gampaha Police Anti-Corruption Unit.

The magistrate had previously found that the cases had been filed without proper justification and ordered three police officers and the Police Department to pay a total of Rs. 200,000 in compensation to the affected individual.

The court also directed the IGP to issue a nationwide circular instructing police officers not to file unjustified cases against innocent citizens.

However, when the matter was taken up on October 21, police representatives submitted guidelines issued on October 19 by the Deputy Inspector General responsible for the Western Province North Range, covering only three police divisions.

The magistrate rejected the document, observing that the original order specifically required the IGP to issue instructions covering all police officers across Sri Lanka.

“This is an attempt to mislead me,” the magistrate remarked in open court, according to BBC Sinhala.

He strongly criticised the police for failing to implement the court’s instructions despite being given nearly five months to do so.

The magistrate subsequently directed that the relevant case files be forwarded to the President of the Court of Appeal for contempt proceedings against the IGP. (Newswire)

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