The Court of Appeal has ordered the dismissal of the writ petition filed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa without hearing. This order has been issued on October 1.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had filed this petition seeking to prevent his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in the context of investigations related to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
As the oral submissions on the petition had already been completed, the court had to pass an order on whether to allow the petition to proceed or dismiss it at the outset.
In this case, the petition was taken up again before a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Rohanda Abeysuriya and Justice Sarath Dissanayake. Then the court ordered to dismiss the petition without further hearing.
Petition related to the Easter Sunday attack investigations
This legal action by Gotabaya Rajapaksa is related to investigations related to the Easter Sunday attacks that took place on 21st April 2019.
Investigations are being carried out at various stages in connection with the said attacks. As part of those investigations, the former president had approached the court citing fears that he might be arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Subsequently, the main demand of his petition was to issue a court order to prevent his arrest. In this petition, the Inspector General of Police, Director of Criminal Investigation Department and other officials were named as defendants.
The hearing on this petition was not a one-day affair. The case has been heard on various occasions by the Court of Appeal since June. Later, the counsel for both the parties presented their oral submissions.
The Daily Mirror had reported that during the hearing held on August 3, the submissions of both parties had been completed and the court had announced that an order would be issued later on whether to allow the petition to be continued or dismissed at the outset.
Thus, it was expected that the order of the court would be released on September 22. Finally, on October 1, the court has ordered to dismiss the petition without taking it up for hearing.
Travel ban imposed on ex-president Gotabaya Rajapakse
Amidst these legal proceedings, Tamil News also noted that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been banned from traveling abroad based on investigations into the Easter Sunday attack.
Earlier, questions of legal jurisdiction had also been raised in the case. Appearing for the Attorney General in July, Deputy Petitioner General Suharshi Herat had argued that the Appellate Court had no jurisdiction to consider some of the claims raised in the petition as they related to fundamental rights. For that reason, the Attorney General’s side had also requested to transfer the petition to the High Court.
On the other hand, President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva appeared on behalf of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and presented his side’s submissions. The case was then adjourned for further submissions.
During the further consideration held on 23rd July, lawyer Romesh de Silva appeared on behalf of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and submitted his reply submissions. The case was then adjourned to August 3.
Ultimately after considering the legal submissions of all the parties, the Appellate Court took the stand that the petition need not be taken up for further hearing. Based on this, the petition has been dismissed at the initial stage.
The court order is another important step in the ongoing legal proceedings against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the Easter Sunday attack investigations. However, the dismissal of the petition does not mean that the case has been proven guilty in the proceedings. The Court considered on this occasion whether the said writ petition should be continued for hearing.
Therefore, future investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks will continue to focus on the actions taken by the relevant authorities and subsequent legal actions.