Gampaha Magistrate Bandula Gunarathne has been transferred to the Sri Lanka Judges' Institute.

The transfer comes in the aftermath of Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne forwarding a complaint to the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking action against Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasooriya on charges of contempt of court.

The complaint followed the Magistrate's determination that the IGP had committed contempt of court by failing to comply with an order directing him to issue a circular to all police stations instructing officers not to initiate baseless cases against innocent citizens of the country.

The incident stemmed from two separate cases filed by the Anti-Vice Unit of the Gampaha Police before the Gampaha Magistrate's Court on the same day against a suspect, involving identical drug possession charges.

When the Magistrate questioned the police over the filing of two cases against the same suspect on identical charges, the police acknowledged that it had been an oversight and sought permission to withdraw one of the cases.

The Magistrate strongly reprimanded the police for filing baseless cases against innocent individuals and ordered that compensation be paid to the suspect. He also directed the IGP to issue a circular instructing police officers to refrain from filing unlawful cases.

However, the IGP subsequently lodged a complaint with the Judicial Service Commission concerning the Magistrate's actions. In response, the JSC requested Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne to submit his observations on the matter.

Following the submission of his observations, the Secretary to the Judicial Service Commission, Prasanna Alwis, issued the letter formally notifying the Magistrate of his transfer to the Sri Lanka Judges' Institute with immediate effect.