Neethi › Police & arrest › Arrest, custody and bail

If you are arrested by the police

Draft · not yet checked by a lawyer

Police must tell you why you are being arrested, and you must be brought before a Magistrate quickly, normally within 24 hours.

You must be told the reason for your arrest.
Torture or cruel treatment is never allowed.
Police may not restrain you more than needed to stop you escaping.
You must be taken before a Magistrate, normally within 24 hours (travel time not counted).
You are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Stay calm and ask: "Why am I being arrested?"
Ask that a family member and a lawyer be told.
Do not sign anything you have not read or do not understand.
If your rights are violated, you can file a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court within one month, or complain to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, contact the Legal Aid Commission.

Free legal help: Legal Aid Commission 011 533 5329. Emergencies: Police 119, Suwa Seriya ambulance 1990. Bribery complaints: 1954.

පොලිසිය ඔබව අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තොත්

අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා හේතුව පොලිසිය ඔබට පැවසිය යුතුය. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් පැය 24ක් ඇතුළත ඔබව මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයෙකු ඉදිරියට ගෙන යා යුතුය.

අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා හේතුව ඔබට දැනුම් දිය යුතුය.
වධහිංසා හෝ කුරිරු සැලකීම් කිසිවිටෙකත් අවසර නැත.
ඔබ පැන යාම වැළැක්වීමට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රමාණයට වඩා ඔබව සීමා කළ නොහැක.
සාමාන්‍යයෙන් පැය 24ක් ඇතුළත (ගමන් කාලය හැර) මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයෙකු ඉදිරියට ගෙන යා යුතුය.
වරද ඔප්පු වන තුරු ඔබ නිර්දෝෂී යැයි සැලකේ.

සන්සුන්ව සිට "මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නේ ඇයි?" කියා අසන්න.
පවුලේ කෙනෙකුට සහ නීතිඥයෙකුට දැනුම් දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලන්න.
ඔබ කියවා තේරුම් නොගත් කිසිවකට අත්සන් නොකරන්න.
ඔබේ අයිතිවාසිකම් කඩ වුවහොත්, මාසයක් ඇතුළත ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් පෙත්සමක් ගොනු කළ හැක, නැතහොත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාවට පැමිණිලි කරන්න.
නීතිඥයෙකු සඳහා මුදල් නැත්නම් නීති ආධාර කොමිෂන් සභාව අමතන්න.

නොමිලේ නීති උදව්: නීති ආධාර කොමිෂන් සභාව 011 533 5329. හදිසි: පොලිසිය 119, සුවසැරිය ගිලන් රථ 1990. අල්ලස් පැමිණිලි: 1954.

கைதுக்கான காரணத்தை பொலிஸ் உங்களுக்குச் சொல்ல வேண்டும். பொதுவாக 24 மணி நேரத்திற்குள் நீங்கள் நீதவான் முன் ஆஜர்படுத்தப்பட வேண்டும்.

கைது செய்யப்படுவதற்கான காரணம் உங்களுக்குத் தெரிவிக்கப்பட வேண்டும்.
சித்திரவதை அல்லது கொடூரமான நடத்தை ஒருபோதும் அனுமதிக்கப்படாது.
நீங்கள் தப்பிச் செல்வதைத் தடுக்கத் தேவையானதை விட அதிகமாகக் கட்டுப்படுத்த முடியாது.
பொதுவாக 24 மணி நேரத்திற்குள் (பயண நேரம் தவிர) நீதவான் முன் ஆஜர்படுத்தப்பட வேண்டும்.
குற்றம் நிரூபிக்கப்படும் வரை நீங்கள் நிரபராதியாகக் கருதப்படுவீர்கள்.

அமைதியாக இருந்து "என்னை ஏன் கைது செய்கிறீர்கள்?" என்று கேளுங்கள்.
குடும்ப உறுப்பினர் ஒருவருக்கும் சட்டத்தரணிக்கும் தெரிவிக்குமாறு கேளுங்கள்.
நீங்கள் வாசித்துப் புரிந்துகொள்ளாத எதிலும் கையொப்பமிட வேண்டாம்.
உங்கள் உரிமைகள் மீறப்பட்டால், ஒரு மாதத்திற்குள் உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தில் அடிப்படை உரிமைகள் மனுவைத் தாக்கல் செய்யலாம் அல்லது இலங்கை மனித உரிமைகள் ஆணைக்குழுவிடம் முறையிடலாம்.
சட்டத்தரணிக்குப் பணம் இல்லையென்றால் சட்ட உதவி ஆணைக்குழுவைத் தொடர்புகொள்ளுங்கள்.

இலவச சட்ட உதவி: சட்ட உதவி ஆணைக்குழு 011 533 5329. அவசரம்: பொலிஸ் 119, சுவசெரிய அம்புலன்ஸ் 1990. இலஞ்ச முறைப்பாடு: 1954.

Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978)

Art. 11 No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Art. 13(1) No arrest except according to procedure established by law; the person must be informed of the reason.
Art. 13(2) A person held in custody must be brought before the judge of the nearest competent court.
Art. 13(5) Every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty.
Art. 126(2) A fundamental rights application to the Supreme Court must be made within one month of the infringement.

Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979

s. 23 The person making the arrest must inform the arrested person of the nature of the charge or allegation.
s. 28 No more restraint than is necessary to prevent escape.
s. 37 A person arrested without a warrant must not be detained longer than 24 hours, excluding the journey to the Magistrate.

Sources: [1]

This explains the general law. It is not advice on your situation. For your own case, speak to a lawyer or the Legal Aid Commission.