The Chief Justice has decided to appoint a seven-judge Supreme Court bench to hear the fundamental rights petitions filed against the state for its failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bomb attacks despite having prior knowledge.
Seven petitions have been filed against the IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando stating that the officials violated the fundamental rights of the aggrieved parties by not taking immediate action to prevent the terrorist attack that killed more than 250 people, despite having received sufficient intelligence.
The petitions were taken up for hearing today (06) before a three-judge bench comprising justices Buwaneka Aluvihare, Sisira de Abrew and LTB Dehideniya.
Judge Buwaneka Aluvihare told the open court that the Chief Justice has decided to that the petitions should be considered as petitions of national importance and heard by a seven-judge bench.
Accordingly, the three-member panel of judges directed the petitioners to provide all documents relevant to the case to the respondents within a week.
The bench informed the lawyers of the two parties to file objections, if there are any, to the case, within two weeks from now, and if there are any counter objections within a week therein.
The three-member bench then ordered the petition to be taken up for consideration on July 12.
When the petitions were called at the previous hearing, Additional Solicitor General Farsana Jameel, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, informed the Court that this was a matter of national importance and that the Attorney General though a motion had requested the Chief Justice to hear the case with a full Bench.
Accordingly, the Chief Justice has decided to consider the petitions before a seven-member panel of Judges.
The petitions were filed by seven parties including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Janak Sri Vidanage, a businessman in the tourism industry and Saman Nandana Sirimanna from Wellampitiya, a father of two children who died in the attack on the St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade.
The petitioners in their petitions pointed out that the intelligence unit had already informed the IGP and the security authorities about the attack and if they informed the public the devastation could have been prevented.
They point out that the IGP and the Defense Secretary by not acting upon the information, have committed an offense punishable under the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as the Penal Code.
The Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks by a Muslim extremist group on three churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa and three luxury hotels in Colombo and an inn in Dehiwala killed 258 people including 47 foreign nationals and injured 500 more.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
