The activist wins the case against former IGP Deshabandu.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the fundamental rights of social media activist Anuruddha Bandara were violated when he was arrested and detained during the public protests in 2022. The Supreme Court announced this decision after a lengthy hearing of the fundamental rights petition filed by the petitioner.

The court ruling states that Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western Province at the time, and Police Inspector Nalin Sriyantha, who was the Officer-in-Charge of the Modara Police Station and also part of the Colombo North Special Investigations Unit at the time, are responsible for violating the petitioner's fundamental rights through this unjust arrest and detention.

Due to the severe economic and political crisis in the country, and his strong criticism of the then-government's actions through social media, Anuruddha Bandara was taken away by a group of individuals in civilian clothes in April 2022.

As no information about his whereabouts was provided to his family or lawyers for several hours, a strong public debate arose, suggesting it was an abduction with the intent to disappear him. However, it was later revealed that he had been arrested and detained by the Modara Police under charges of conspiring against the government and disseminating news that disturbs the public via social media, as per Section 120 of the Penal Code.

Following strong protests from lawyers and the public against this incident, as well as the intervention of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the police took steps to present the suspect to court, where the Magistrate ordered his release on bail.

Anuruddha Bandara filed this petition before the Supreme Court, requesting a ruling that his fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution, were violated by this unjust arrest. In this petition, which named former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon and the Officer-in-Charge of Modara Police Station, among others, as respondents, he also sought compensation of 100 million rupees.