The Court of Appeal yesterday issued a Writ of Certiorari quashing the summons previously issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on former President Maithripala Sirisena in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The ruling was delivered by a five-judge bench comprising Justices Dhammika Ganepola, Mayadunne Corea, P. Kumararatnam, Sasi Mahendran and Amal Ranaraja, following a writ petition filed by Sirisena challenging the legality of the summons.
However, the Court clarified that its decision does not prevent the Colombo Fort Magistrate from issuing a fresh order if new or additional material becomes available. In its judgment, the Court noted that the Magistrate had failed to clearly specify the material relied upon in forming the opinion that the complaint disclosed an offence of criminal negligence, and that the order lacked sufficient reasoning and evidentiary basis.
The Court further observed that there was no clear explanation of how the Magistrate arrived at the decision to issue summons, highlighting deficiencies in the judicial evaluation of the complaint. The summons had originally been issued on September 16, 2022, following a private plaint seeking legal action against the former President over the Easter Sunday attacks.
In his petition, Sirisena argued that the Magistrate had failed to properly exercise judicial discretion and had relied on inadmissible and hearsay evidence when issuing the notice. He also contended that the legal requirements of a private complaint had not been adequately assessed before the summons was issued.
The private plaint had been filed by Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando and Easter Sunday attack victim Jesuraj Ganeshan, who sought legal action against the former President under Section 298 of the Penal Code for causing deaths through alleged negligence.
