Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, March 18 (Daily Mirror) – The Supreme Court today ruled that a detention order issued by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2020 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was unlawful and violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices S. Thurairaja, A. H. M. D. Nawaz, and Mahinda Samayawardena delivered the verdict, ordering the State to compensate the petitioner with Rs. 100,000.

The ruling was in response to a Fundamental Rights petition filed by Kanchana Priyadarshani Madurapperuma, a resident of Pokunuwita, Henagama. 

The Petitioner was arrested by the Peliyagoda Special Investigation Unit in 2020 for alleged possession of heroin. Her subsequent detention was authorized through two separate Detention Orders, one issued on 30th January 2020 under the Poisons, Opium, and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, No. 17 of 1929, and another on 6th February 2020 under the PTA.

The Court granted leave to proceed based on Articles 12, 13(1), and 13(2) of the Constitution. 

It was revealed that then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had no authority to act as the Minister of Defence at the time material to this application as the 20th Amendment to the Constitution had not yet come into effect. 

As such, the issuance of the Detention Order dated 06th February 2020 by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is ultra vires the Constitution and therefore devoid of any legal validity.