YJA requests NPC to remove Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon from post

The Young Journalists Association (YJA) in a communique to the National Police Commission yesterday requested the body to remove the recently appointed Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon from the post of Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Western Province and dismiss him from the Police service. 

In the letter, the YJA highlighted the recent Supreme Court ruling which held Deshabandu Tennakoon accountable for the unlawful arrest, illegal detention, and severe torture of a Sri Lankan citizen during his tenure as a Superintendent of Police.

“In the fundamental rights case under SC (FR) Application No.107/2011, the Supreme Court on 14 December 2023 declared that Deshabandu Tennakoon was directly implicated in the torture of the citizen, identified as the fifth respondent in the case, and ordered the illegal act,” the YJA noted. 

The organisation emphasised that engaging in such activities by a person holding a crucial position in the Sri Lankan Police, a vital institution in administering justice, seriously damages public trust in the law enforcement agency.

The YJA in its communique to the NPC urged the Commission to take disciplinary measures against Tennakoon and called for his removal from the position of Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police overseeing the Western Province and placing him on suspension pending further action.