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Assault victim gets Rs. 25,000
The Supreme Court granted compensation to a victim of police assault after he was arrested on charges of theft.

The petitioner Koralaliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara Halwala of Matugama who was in remand custody filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court for assault by the police and cited Welipenna Sub inspector M.Silva, OIC, Welipenna the IGP and the Attorney General as respondents.

The petitioner, a painter by profession, said that on February 3, four persons in civies came to his residence and wanted him to come to the police station to help make the Police emblem for the Independence Day celebrations.
When he went there he was assaulted by policemen accusing him of thefts in the area and also that he was in procession of bombs. Tissa Kumara said that when he refused to confess SI Silva brought a man named Sarath alias Banja to the station and asked Sarath to spit into his (Tissa Kumara’s) mouth. He said he learned later that Sarath was supposed to be suffering from tuberculosis.

The petitioner said that at the identification parade at the Magistrate Court at Matugama he was not identified by any of the witnesses. The Supreme Court helds that the 1st respondent has violated the petitioners fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The Court directed the 1st respondent to pay a sum of Rs. 5000 personally as compensation and costs and the State to pay a sum of Rs. 20,000 as compensation.

These amounts to be paid within three months from February 17. The Bench comprised Justices Dr. Shiranee Bandaranayake T.B Weerasuriya and Rajah Fernando

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