The Court of Appeal ordered for notice to be served on the Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam and former Navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda to appear in court on October 29 over the former's decision to not press charges over the abduction and enforced disappearance of 11 youth.
The Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam on October 13 informed the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar that the state will not pursue the charges against former Navy Commander Karannagoda, who was named as the 14th Defendant in the case filed against the abduction and disappearance of 11 youth in Colombo and suburbs in 2008 and 2009.
The petition against the Attorney General’s decision was taken up before a bench of Justices of the Court of Appeal comprising Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Dhammika Ganepola yesterday.
The bench directed the counsel for the petitioners to take steps to send a notice to the Attorney General and former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda for consideration of the petition.
The petition has been filed by a group of relatives of the missing including Saroja Govindasamy Naganathan, the mother of a missing youth.
According to the petitioners, the Attorney General had filed a case against 14 Navy personnel, including former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, in connection with the 2008 abduction and disappearance of 11 youth in Colombo and its suburbs before a three-judge bench of the Colombo High Court.
The petitioners say the Attorney General's decision to drop the indictment against Wasantha Karannagoda, who has been named as a defendant in the case, while the case is ongoing, is not justified.
The petitioners pointing out that the Attorney General initially decided to file indictments against Wasantha Karannagoda because there was sufficient evidence against him allege that the Attorney General had abused his power by withdrawing the charges against him without just cause.
Therefore, the petitioners have requested the Court of Appeal to issue a writ order nullifying the decision taken by the Attorney General to withdraw the charges filed against Wasantha Karannagoda.
The petitioners also request the court to issue an order to the Attorney General to continue the indictment filed against Karannagoda and issue an interim injunction preventing the withdrawal of the indictment until the conclusion of the petition.
