Gampaha Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne has referred a case file to the President of the Court of Appeal to begin contempt of court proceedings against Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasooriya, after finding that a court order had not been carried out.

The magistrate ruled that the IGP had disregarded the court’s instructions, and said the police had tried to mislead the judiciary, according to a report by BBC Sinhala.

The dispute arose from two drug-related cases filed against the same person by officers of the Gampaha Police Anti-Corruption Unit. The magistrate had earlier found that the cases were filed without proper justification. He ordered three police officers and the Police Department to pay a total of Rs. 200,000 in compensation to the person affected.

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

When the matter was taken up on 21 October, police representatives submitted guidelines issued on 19 October by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Western Province North Range. Those guidelines covered only three police divisions.

The magistrate rejected the document. He observed that the original order required the IGP to issue instructions covering all police officers in Sri Lanka. “This is an attempt to mislead me,” he said in open court, according to BBC Sinhala.

He criticised the police for not acting on the order although nearly five months had passed. He then directed that the case files be sent to the President of the Court of Appeal so that contempt proceedings against the IGP could begin.

Background

The IGP is the head of the Sri Lanka Police and is responsible for the administration of the service across all provinces. Court orders that direct police on how they should act are normally passed down through the IGP, which is why the magistrate looked to that office rather than to a regional commander.

Contempt of court covers conduct that disobeys or undermines a court’s authority, including failure to comply with its orders. Under Sri Lanka’s Constitution, the Court of Appeal has power to deal with contempt of other courts, which is why a magistrate who believes an order has been disobeyed can refer the matter to its President rather than decide it personally.

A referral does not amount to a finding of contempt. The Court of Appeal would have to consider the file and give the IGP an opportunity to respond before any decision is made.

What it means

The order that the magistrate says has not been implemented concerns the filing of cases against people without proper grounds. A nationwide circular on that point would apply to police stations in every district, and the court wanted it to protect people anywhere in the country from unjustified prosecutions.

Anyone who believes a criminal case has been filed against them without justification has the option of raising it before the courts, as the person in this case did. The Court of Appeal’s handling of the referral will show how far a magistrate’s directions to the head of the police must be followed.