Sri Lanka’s top court orders ex-prez, 4 others to pay 310 mn rupees in compensation
2019 Easter attack
Colombo, Jan 12: Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Thursday ordered ex-president Maithripala Sirisena and four top former officials to pay a total of 310 million rupees as compensation to the victims of the 2019 Easter attack for their negligence in preventing the country's one of the worst terror strikes despite having credible intel of an imminent attack.
In its verdict, a seven-member bench of the apex court ruled that the respondents named in the petitions for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday attack had violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners.
The court ordered the then president Sirisena, who was also defence minister and commander in chief of the armed forces, to pay a compensation of 100 million rupees (USD 273,300) from his personal fund.
It also ordered former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and former state intelligence services chief Nilantha Jayawardene to pay a compensation of 75 million rupees (USD 204,975) each, former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando to pay a compensation of 50 million rupees (USD 136,650) and former national intelligence service chief Sisira Mendis 10 million rupees (USD 27,330).
The court said top officials failed to act on the detailed intelligence information shared by India to avert the deadly suicide bombings.
They have been ordered to pay from their personal funds to the victim fund maintained by the office of reparations.
The apex court must be reported within 6 months on the payment of compensation.
The bench said Easter Sunday was just a few weeks away when the intel about the imminent attack came from India. Still, the officials failed to show alertness or perceptiveness to carry out any measures to safeguard churches across the country.
The bench also asked the state to take disciplinary action against Jayawardena.
Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring over 500.
The attack stirred a political storm as the then President Sirisena and then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were blamed for their inability to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence being made available.
As many as 12 petitioners, including the kin of the victims, the Catholic clergy, and the lawyers' body Bar Association of Sri Lanka, filed the fundamental rights petition against the then president for his negligence in preventing the attacks that proved fatal for the island nation's economy primarily dependent on tourism.
A presidential panel of inquiry appointed by Sirisena after the attacks ironically found the then-president guilty of his failure to prevent the attacks.
Sirisena, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge in the case filed after the panel's findings.
The head of the local Catholic Church, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, continued to express his dissatisfaction over the probe in the matter, claiming that the investigation was a cover-up.
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Organisation should be strengthened: Tharoor supports Digvijaya's views
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday came out in support of the views of his party colleague Digvijaya Singh, saying the organisation should be strengthened.
At the 140th Foundation Day event at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters, Tharoor was seated next to Digvijaya Singh and exchanged notes.
Ahead of the CWC meet on Saturday, Singh created a flutter by lauding the organisational power of RSS-BJP as he shared Narendra Modi's old picture and said how a grassroots worker went on to become the chief minister and prime minister by sitting at the feet of their leaders.
He also raised the issue of strengthening the Congress organisation at the grassroots level, asserting it was much needed in the fight against the ruling BJP and to oust it from power.
A day later, Digvijaya Singh said he had already stated whatever he had to say. "For 50 years I have been with the Congress party, and I have fought these communal forces, whether in the assembly, parliament or in the organisation," he noted.
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"I have basic differences and am opposed to their ideology. I have and will continue to fight against such people," Singh claimed. When asked to comment on his Saturday's remarks, he said, "Every organisation needs strengthening.
Tharoor, when asked to comment on the issue, said, "The organisation should be strengthened, there is no doubt."
On being seated next to Singh and whether the two exchanged views on the matter, Tharoor said, "We keep talking with each other, we are friends and talk to each other."
"It is the 140th foundation day of the Congress. It is a very important event for the party. It is a day in which we look back on our very remarkable history and the contributions the party has made to the nation," he also told reporters.
In a post on X, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "Today marks the 140th anniversary of the founding of the Indian National Congress, an organisation that played a pivotal role in leading India's struggle for independence from British rule."
"Since its first session in 1885, the party has remained a cornerstone of the nation's democratic journey and political evolution. The occasion was marked with solemnity and camaraderie at Indira Bhavan today," Tharoor said in his post.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said, "I feel the BJP is distorting the intent of Digvijaya's post. The Sangh, which spreads hatred and gets inspiration from the ideology of Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, we don't need to learn anything from them."
"We are the Indian National Congress, and we fought the freedom struggle against injustice and exploitation of the British rule, and turned it into a Jan Andolan. We don't need to learn anything from anyone; rather, others should learn from us," Shrinate claimed.
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Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said, "We have a lot in the Congress, and others should learn from the Congress instead. We certainly don't need to learn from the RSS as we oppose that ideology."
Another leader, Rajiv Shukla, said, "The roots of this party are so deep that they can never be wiped out."
#WATCH | Delhi | On Congress leader Digvijaya Singh praising the organisational strength of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "We have a history of 140 years, and we can learn a lot from it. We can learn from ourselves, too. Discipline is very… pic.twitter.com/NUfz7scRiu
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2025
