Colonel apologizes to lawyers in fundamental rights case

In a significant development at the Supreme Court, two lawyers who had filed a fundamental rights petition received an unconditional apology from a Colonel. The Colonel, identified as Asela Wijeratne, who previously served as the commanding officer of the Galle Fort military camp, made the apology in open court. This apology was in response to an incident during an economic crisis protest in the Galle area where police allegedly obstructed the demonstration and tore down banners.

The lawyers had named the Colonel as a respondent in their fundamental rights petition concerning the incident. Previously, the former Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Galle area, N. Wedasinghe, and the then Senior Superintendent of Police and Officer-in-Charge of Galle Police Station had also offered their unconditional apologies to the lawyers in open court. They had also informed the court that they would submit a written apology.

Chief Justice Priyantha Surasena commended the parties for reaching a settlement. The Supreme Court had previously granted permission to hear the fundamental rights petition. The case was heard by a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Priyantha Surasena and Justices Arjuna Obeysekera and Sampath Wijeratne.