Harin withdraws petition seeking court order preventing his arrest

Minister Harin Fernando today (Sept 18) told the Supreme Court that he wishes to withdraw his petition filed seeking an order preventing the law enforcement authorities from placing him under arrest.

This was communicated by the minister’s legal counsel when the petition was called before a Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices Gamini Amarasekara, Mahinda Samayawardana and Arjuna Obeysekara earlier.

Fernando had filed the petition some time ago, seeking a Supreme Court order preventing his arrest in connection with the investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

When the petition was taken up on September 13, Deputy Solicitor General Dilipa Peiris told the court that the Attorney General had instructed the police on June 20 to conclude the investigations into Fernando after examining the investigation files compiled by the Police Special Investigation Unit.

During court proceedings today, Fernando’s lawyer told the court that his client does not wish to maintain the petition further, and requested permission for withdrawal.

Accordingly, the petition was withdrawn and the Supreme Court bench ordered to revoke it.