FR petition by 9-year-old’s father on street protests

An aggrieved father of a nineyear-old daughter filed a fundamental rights petition yesterday seeking the Supreme Court to direct the police and other respondents to devise a mechanism to avoid illegal and unlawful protests and to compel them to obey the laws, rules and regulations.

He is also asking Court to formulate suitable guidelines to be followed by the police and law enforcement authorities to prevent or disperse illegal and unlawful pro-

Protests and demonstrations should not inconvience people

tests and demonstrations held on main roads causing inconvenience to the people.

Near Gamsabaha Junction at Nugegoda, he was caught in heavy traffic and vehicle movement along the High Level Road and the byroads came to a grinding halt

Petitioner Sanath Kumara Athukorala and his daughter Sathma Methsadi of Navinna in their petition cited Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, IGP N.K. Illangakoon, Senior DIG Anura Senanayake, DIG Sumith Edirisinghe, DIG (Traffic) G.D.A.K. Senarthne and the Attorney General as respondents.

The Petitioner states that on July 3 he left his business place at Navinna to travel to Museues College, in Colombo 7 to pick up his daughter Sathma at 2.00p.m.

Near Gamsabaha Junction at Nugegoda, he was caught in heavy traffic and vehicle movement along the High Level Road and the byroads came to a grinding halt because of a protest march by a large number of university students.

Petitioner said senior police officers were standing along the road without taking any constructive steps to ease the traffic congestion.

He said it took him two hours 20 minutes to reach his destination and when he arrived at the school to pick up his daughter, she was in a state of shock and she had momentarily lost her composure and started to cry.

The petitioner said in terms of Section 56 of the Police Ordinance, the respondent police officers should have given direction to their subordinate officers to disperse the illegal and unlawful protest march and as a result of their failure to do so the general public including him and his daughter have suffered immensely.

He said the respondents who were tasked to protect the public and their properties and to ensure the smooth functioning of public life have taken a lethargic attitude towards solving the problem and had displayed a general apathy towards their predicament.

The petitioner said his fundamental rights to equality and equal protection of the law and the right to the freedom of movement had been violated.