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Friday Aug 22, 2025
Tuesday, 31 December 2024 01:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Dehiwala Police Station, Chief Inspector (CI) Anuradha Herath, has apologised to the parents of a 17-year-old boy after he was taken into custody and held without their knowledge, causing significant distress.
The apology followed the intervention of International Human Rights Activist Muheed Jeeran, who brought attention to the incident on social media.
The boy, a student, had been returning home from early morning prayers at the mosque on 29 December when a police officer had approached him. Startled, the boy had run into a nearby bakery, where the shop owner vouched for him as a local resident who regularly visited after prayers. Despite this, the Police had taken him to the Police station and confiscated his mobile phone.
Unaware of their son’s whereabouts, the boy’s parents made over 50 unanswered calls to his phone and later went to the Dehiwala Police Station to report him missing. It was only then that they discovered he was being held in remand. The boy reportedly asked the police to answer his father’s calls, but they had refused, exacerbating the family’s anxiety.
When the boy’s father sought information about the officer who had taken his son into custody, he was met with hostility, he said. Jeeran has criticised the Police’s actions, stating that basic procedures, such as informing families and handling cases professionally, were neglected.
Following the complaint, Jeeran had facilitated a meeting between the family and CI Herath yesterday. The OIC had apologised for the actions of his officers and summoned the officer responsible. The family, initially distressed by the incident, has now expressed satisfaction with the response and apology.
