SC concludes petition hearing against arrest of Madhumadhava Aravinda

The Supreme Court today (June 13) concluded hearings on the petition seeking to prevent the arrest of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader Madhumadhava Aravinda, since sufficient evidence was not available to arrest him.

During a hearing today, the Attorney General (AG) informed court that sufficient evidence to arrest the PHU's Deputy Leader could not be gathered through the investigations carried out so far. The Supreme Court's three-member judge bench heard that the Police had submitted a complete report on the investigations into the Minuwangoda riots to the AG.

Accordingly, a state counsel appearing for the AG told the judge bench headed by Justice Buwaneka Aluvihare, that there was no need to arrest the PHU leader who had filed a petition seeking an order to suspend moves to arrest him.

Aravinda had filed the petition by citing a possibility of being arrested over allegedly being involved in the riots in Minuwagoda on May 13. He had claimed that moves were afoot to implicate him in the riots due to political revenge, by utilising a footage of him leaving the Divulapitiya area at the time of the riots.

The petitioner had also told the Supreme Court that the Police had obtained a travel ban on him from the Minuwangoda Magistrate's Court by charging him without proper evidence. He had also said that the police had filed charges against him under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to prevent him from being released on bail.

The officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Minuwangoda Police, the Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Western Province (North), the acting police chief, and the AG had been named as respondents to the petition.