Deshabandu Tennakoon. (Photo: police.lk.com)
Activists and petitioners have called on the Sri Lankan government to implement a Supreme Court order issued last week to prevent Deshabandu Tennakoon from functioning as the island nation’s top cop.
The court issued the interim order after receiving petitions by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and eight others questioning Tennakoon’s suitability for the post.
However, President Ranil Wickremesinghe rejected the Supreme Court’s order issued on July 24, saying it has placed restraints on the president “in the performance of this duty in contravention of the constitution.”
Ahead of presidential polls in September, the prime minister also turned down the Supreme Court order against Tennakoon in parliament on July 27.
Wickremesinghe will contest the polls as an independent candidate.
The rejection of the court order does not auger well for the country, said Paikiasothy Sarawanamuththu, who along with Cardinal Ranjith challenged Tennakoon’s appointment as Inspector General of Police (IGP).
“Any attempt to subvert elections and the rule of law will have a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s path towards stability,” Sarawanamuththu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, told UCA News.
The cardinal and the eight others noted in their complaints that Tennakoon’s appointment was problematic due to his indictment by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that claimed the lives of 270 people and injured over 500, most of them Christians.
Tennakoon also mishandled a live grenade incident in a Catholic church in 2022 and was convicted for torturing an ex-soldier, with the Supreme Court telling him to pay compensation to the victim.
Since assuming office as the acting IGP last year, Tennakoon has initiated the “Yukthiya” operation to crack down on drug trafficking. The crackdown has been criticized by UN experts as well as diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka for arbitrary arrests and unlawful detentions.
Recently, Tennakoon told a gathering to spy on each other to keep extremism and terrorism in check.
The suspension order by a three-judge bench will be effective until a final ruling of the nine petitions in November.
Under the constitution, the IGP is appointed by the president with the approval of the Constitutional Council.
The leader of the opposition, who is a member of the council, has alleged that the council did not give its nod to the appointment with the mandatory minimum of five votes.
“We are bound to take maximum legal remedies against all persons who defame the Supreme Court in this manner,” professor G. L. Peiris, former dean of the faculty of law and vice-chancellor of the University of Colombo, told UCA News.
It is wrong to issue statements criticizing the Supreme Court order, he noted.
Advocacy group National Peace Council (NPC) said the government’s refusal to implement the order threatens the rule of law and “undermines parliamentary democracy,” in the country.
Earlier, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Nilantha Jayawardena, was sent on compulsory leave by the National Police Commission until a disciplinary investigation against him over the Easter Sunday attacks is concluded.
Jayawardena is ranked second behind Tennakoon in the police hierarchy.
The president has stated that an acting IGP cannot be appointed as Wickremesinghe is a candidate in the upcoming polls. The president has informed the speaker and the chief justice of his inability to make new appointments.