The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has declared as null a Fundamental Rights Petition that was filed by Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital.
Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen had filed the petition seeking the court to issue an order that his arrest and detention by the Police were a violation of the law.
Following long deliberation of the matter, the three-judge Supreme Court bench declared the petition null yesterday (May 16).
Speaking in open court, however, the three-judge bench chaired by Justice Malalgoda pointed out that two weeks after the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, large sums of money were transferred to and from the petitioner’s bank accounts, as per the statements obtained from the relevant banks.
Thus, they noted that the arrest was therefore not illegal on any account, as it was made pertaining to the ongoing investigations into the series of bomb attacks at the time.
Justice Malalgoda further noted that Dr. Shafi had not provided sufficient details as to where the money in question came from when he was questioned by the police prior to his arrest, thereby adding that the court cannot interfere with police investigations.
Thus, upon presentation of several other facts to the court in this regard, the Supreme Court dismissed the FR petition filed by Dr. Shafi.
In May 2019, Dr. Sihabdeen was sent on compulsory leave after being accused of performing illegal sterilization operations at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital.
He was arrested over allegations of the alleged sterilization of women without their consent.
Dr. Sihabdeen was also accused of having amassed wealth in an illegal manner and maintaining links with a terrorist organization. He was later released from the case.
The Attorney General’s Department also dropped all charges against him relating to the allegations about sterilisation. (NewsWire)