Human Rights Activist Chirantha Ranmal Amarasinghe has filed a Fundamental Rights Application today (2nd July 2024) alleging that he is being hounded by the Criminal Investigations Department without any reason demanding that he produce himself before the CID.
In his Fundamental Rights Application he has stated that he has filed several applications before the Supreme Court in respect of treatment meted out to him by the CID and several other police officers.
He has stated that he received a notice from the Piliyandala Police on 28th June 2024 that his presence is required on 1st July 2024 to give a ‘statement’ before the Financial and Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the CID over a “Facebook Post”, however not even the OIC who has allegedly issued the notice was aware of the reason for him being summoned or what “Facebook Post” the summoning related to. The OIC had promised to revert with the reasons for the summoning however has failed to revert.
Since no response with reasons for his summoning was given, and since he had to attend Court in relation to a complain made by he State Intelligence Service that he intimidated them by attempting to hand over a Right to Information request concerning a previous arrest. Therefore, he had not attended to the CID but appeared before the Chief Magistrate on 1st July 2024.
Thereafter, on 1st July 2024 around 6PM six men in civil attire had come to his house and demanded that he immediately go with them to the CID to record a statement. They had refused to provide any identification or provide their names.
When Amerasinghe’s father had asked the reasons he had been responded with hostility. After hanging around for over 1 ½ hours outside his house, the six men had left, only to reappear at Amarasinghe’s father’s workplace on 2nd morning and threatnining that “අහු උනොත් අත අරින්නේ නෑ.”
Amerasinghe has urged Court that the witch-hunt is for ulterior purposes and therefore to declare that his Fundamental Rights have been infringed or imminently infringed by the actions of the CID.
It was also reported that the men who turned up at Amerasinghe’s residence on 1st July 2024 and at his father’s workplace on 2nd July 2024 were also seen outside of the Hulftsdorp Court complex waiting to apprehend Amerasinghe if he appeared to file his Application before the Supreme Court.
Amarasinghe recently filed a complaint against the State Intelligence Service over his arrest in 2020 for a comment he made regarding enforced cremation of corpses during the coronavirus pandemic. (NewsWire)