The Supreme Court today (16 May) dismissed the Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed by Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital pertaining to his arrest. 

The order was issued by a three-judge bench  of the Supreme Court comprising of Justices Vijith Malalgoda, Yasantha Kodagoda and Arjun Obeysekera. upon presentation of the facts.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, President’s Counsel Faizer Mustapha informed the court that his client’s arrest was entirely in defiance of the law, as no sufficient evidence had been produced against his client at the time of the arrest.

The lawyer further stated that the arrest and detention of his client under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was also non-compliant with the law.

Speaking in open court, however, the three-judge bench chaired by Justice Malalgoda pointed out that two weeks after the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, large sums of money were transferred to and from the petitioner’s bank  accounts, as per the statements obtained from the relevant banks.

Thus, they noted that the arrest was therefore not illegal on any account, as it was made pertaining to the ongoing investigations into the series of bomb attacks at the time.

Justice Malalgoda further noted that Dr. Shafi had not provided sufficient details as to where the money in question came from when he was questioned by the police prior to his arrest, thereby adding that the court cannot interfere with police investigations.

Thus, upon presentation of several other facts to the court in this regard, the Supreme Court dismissed the FR petition filed by Dr. Shafi seeking an order declaring that his arrest in May 2019 and detention thereon was unlawful. 

Albeit the Police having stated that Dr. Shafi was arrested and remanded for allegedly amassing assets via suspicious means and performing illegal sterilisation surgeries, the petitioner emphasised that the police failed to mention any substantial reason for his arrest. 

Thus, he also requested that the court issue an order stating that his fundamental rights were violated by arresting and detaining him based on false and baseless allegation.