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Home > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Sri Lanka's Laws > Emergency Regulations, 1994

SRI LANKA'S LAWS

Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers)
Regulations, No. 4 of 1994

The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
- No. 843112 - 4 November 1994

[see also Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulations No. 1 of 1989 and
The Emergency (Restriction on Transport of Articles) Regulations No.1 of 1991 ]

PART 2

SUPERVISION, SEARCH, ARREST, DETENTION,
REHABILITATION AND SURRENDER

17.

(1) Where the Secretary is satisfied upon the material submitted to him, or upon such further additional material as may be called for by him, with respect to any person, that, with a view to preventing such person

(a) from acting in any manner prejudicial to the national security or to the maintenance of public order or to the maintenance of essential services; or

(b) from acting in any manner contrary to any of the provisions of sub-paragraph (b) of Paragraph (2) of Regulation 32; or

(c) from committing, aiding or abetting the commission of any offence set out in Regulation 25 or Regulation 26,

it is necessary so to do, the Secretary may make order that such person be taken into custody and detained in custody for a period not exceeding three months and any such order may be extended from time to time for a period not exceeding three months at a time.

Provided however that no person shall be so detained upon an order under this regulation for a period exceeding one year. The period of detention of such person may be extended if such person is produced before a Magistrate prior to the expiration of his period of detention, accompanied by a report from the Secretary setting out the facts upon which the person is detained and the reason which necessitates the extension of such period of detention. Where the Magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for extending the period of detention of such person he may make order that such person be detained for a further period of time as specified in such order, which period should not exceed three months and may be extended by the Magistrate from time to time.

(2) Where a person is produced before a Magistrate in compliance with the provisions of Paragraph (1) the Magistrate shall examine the material placed before him by the Secretary in his report. The report shall be prima facie evidence of its contents. The Secretary shall not be required to be present or called upon to testify before the Magistrate.

(3) Any police officer or any member of the armed forces shall have the right to carry into effect any order made under Paragraph (1) of this Regulation and to use all such force as may be necessary for that purpose.

{4) Any person detained in pursuance of an order made under Paragraph (1) of this regulation shall be deemed to be in lawful custody and shall be detained in such place as may be authorised by the Secretary and in accordance with instructions issued by him, and where such person is so detained in a prison established under the Prisons Ordinance all provisions of that Ordinance and all the rules made under that Ordinance shall apply to such person as though he were a civil prisoner within the meaning of that Ordinance:

Provided, however, that the Secretary may, where he considers it expedient to do by order direct that any provisions of the said Ordinance or any rules made thereunder which under the preceding provisions of this paragraph apply to such person, shall not apply, or shall apply subject to such amendments or modifications as may be specified in such order.

(5) For the purpose of this regulation there shall be one or more Advisory Committees consisting of not less than three persons appointed by the President. The President may nominate one of such persons to be the Chairman.

(6) Where an Advisory Committee consists of three persons, the quorum for any meeting thereof shall be two, and where an Advisory Committee consists of more than three persons the quorum shall be three.

(7) Any person aggrieved by an order against him under this regulation may make his objections to such Advisory Committee.

(8) Any person aggrieved by an Order under this regulation is entitled to be informed of his right to make objections in writing, to such Advisory Committee as aforesaid.

(g) At any meeting of an Advisory Committee held to consider such objections as aforesaid shall be presided over by the Chairman. It shall be the duty of the Chairman to inform the objector of the grounds on which the order under this regulation has been made against him and to furnish him with such particulars, as are in the opinion of the Chairman sufficient to enable him to present his case.

(10) The Advisory Committee may regulate its procedure for the conduct of its meetings.

(11) The report of the Advisory Committee with respect to any such objections as aforesaid shall be submitted to the Secretary who may after consideration thereof, confirm or revoke the order to which the objections relate.


18.

(1) Any police officer or any member of the armed forces may search, detain for purposes of such search, or arrest without warrant, any person who is committing or has committed or whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be concerned in, or to be committing or to have committed, an offence under any emergency regulation; and may search, seize, remove detain any vehicle, vessel, article, substance, or thing whatsoever used in, or in connection with, the commission of the offence:

Provided however, that any person arrested or detained in any area or areas outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces in respect of which a proclamation under Section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance is applicable by a member of the armed forces shall forthwith, and at any event before the expiry of twenty-four hours from such arrest or detention be handed over to the custody of the officer-in-charge of the nearest police station.

(2) Any person conducting a search under Paragraph (1) of this regulation may question any other person present in the premises, place, vehicle or vessel searched, or the person who is searched, in regard to any matter connected with or relating to the purpose of the search.

(3) Every person who is questioned under Paragraph (2) of this regulation shall furnish such information as is within his knowledge in regard to the matter on which he is questioned.

(4) The person residing in, or in charge of, any premises, place, vehicle or vessel which is to be searched under this regulation, shall on demand of the person conducting the search, allow him free ingress thereto and afford all reasonable facilities for a search therein.

(5) A person conducting a search under this regulation may, in order to effect an entrance into the premises, place, vehicle or vessel to be searched, open or break open any outer or inner door or window.

(6) Whenever it is necessary to cause a female to be searched, the search shall be made by another female.

(7) It shall be the duty of the arresting officer to report the arrest made under Paragraph (1}, where the arresting officer is a police officer to the Superintendent of Police of the Division within which the arrest is made, and where the arresting officer is a member of the armed forces, to the Commanding officer of the area, within which the arrest is made, within twenty-four hours of such arrest.

(8) Where any person is taken into custody, under the provisions of this regulation it shall be the duty of the arresting of ricer, to issue to the spouse, father' mother or any other close relative as the case may be, a document in such Form as specified by the Secretary, acknowledging the fact of the arrest. It shall be the duty of the holder of such document to return the same to, or produce the same before, the appropriate authority when such arrested person is released from custody.

Provided that, where any person is taken into custody and it is not possible to issue a document as set out above, it shall be the duty of the arresting officer, if such officer is a police officer, to make an entry in the Information Book, the reasons why it is not possible to so issue a document, and if the arresting officer is a member of the armed forces to report the reasons why it is not possible to issue a document to the officer-in-charge of the police station, whose duty it shall be to make an entry of such fact along with the reasons therefore, in the Information Book.

(9) Where any person shall without reasonable cause fail to issue a document acknowledging the fact of arrest as required by Paragraph (X) or wilfully omits to make such an entry as is referred to in the proviso to Paragraph (8), or to report the fact that the document was not issued and the reasons therefore, he shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction after trial before the High Court be liable to a term of imprisonment extending to two years, and a fine.

(10) Where any property is seized or detained under the provisions of this regulation the person effecting the seizure or detention shall issue a receipt in respect of such property to the person from whose custody such property was seized or detained.


19.

(1) The provisions of sections 36, 37 and 38 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, :No. 15 of 1979, shall not apply to, and in relation to, any person arrested under Regulation 18.

(2) Any person taken into custody in pursuance of the provisions of Regulation 18 may for the purpose of investigation of the offence in relation to which such person was arrested be kept in detention upon an order made by a police officer not below the rank of a Deputy Inspector-General of Police or if the person had been taken into custody by a member of the armed forces in any Administrative District within the Northern or Eastern Provinces, upon an order made by an officer not below the rank of Brigadier, Commodore or Wing Commander of the Army, Navy or Air Force, as the case may be, in a place authorised by the Secretary for a period not exceeding sixty days reckoned from the date of his arrest under that regulation, and should at the end of the period be released unless such person is detained under the provisions of Regulation 17, or is produced before a court of competent jurisdiction. Where such person is detained in a prison established under the Prisons Ordinance, the provisions of Regulation 17 (3) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to, and in relation to, such person:

Provided however, that when any person is arrested in pursuance of the provisions of Regulation 18 in any area or areas outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces in respect of which a Proclamation under Section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance is applicable in respect of any offence committed in any such area, he shall not be detained under these provisions for a period in excess of seven days, unless investigations made during the period of seven days, requires such person to be detained for a further period, and in such instance the officer who issues the detention order may extend the period of detention for a further period of fourteen days. However if a detention order under Regulation 17 has not been obtained in respect of the person so arrested either within seven days or within the extended period of fourteen days, as the case may be, then he shall be produced before a Magistrate in accordance with the provisions hereinafter set out or be released.

(2A) Where any person is detained under the provisions of paragraph 2, no order for the detention of such person shall be made unless the fact of the arrest of such person has been notified to the Officer-in-Charge of the nearest Police Station forthwith or in any event no later than 24 hours of such arrest. Any person who fails to inform of the fact of such arrest shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction after trial before the High Court be liable to a term of imprisonment extending up to 02 years and a fine.

(3) Where no reasonable cause exists for the further detention of any person arrested under the provisions of Regulation 18, such person shall, within forty-eight hours of his arrest if such arrest was made in any area outside the Northern or Eastern Provinces in respect of which a Proclamation under Section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance is applicable, or within seven days if such arrest was made in any area within the Northern and Eastern Provinces, be released from custody upon production of such person before a magistrate.

(4) The Secretary shall cause to be published in the Gazette a list, with the addresses of all places authorised by him as places of detention for the purposes of Regulations 17 and 19, and shall also notify the existence and the address of such places of detention to the Magistrate within whose jurisdiction such places of detention are located.

(5) The officer-in-charge of any place authorised by the Secretary as a place authorised for detention for purposes of Regulation 17 or 19 shall furnish once every fourteen days to the magistrate within whose local limits of jurisdiction such places of detention is located a list containing the names of all persons detained at such place. The Magistrate shall cause such list to be displayed on the notice board of the court.

(6) The Magistrate within whose jurisdiction any such authorised place of detention is situated, shall visit such place of detention at least once in every month and it shall be the duty of the officer-in-charge of that place, to secure that every person detained therein, otherwise than by an order of a Magistrate, is produced before such visiting Magistrate.

(7) The production of any person in conformity with the provisions of Regulation 19(6) shall not affect the detention of any person.

(8) No person shall be detained at any place other than a place of detention authorised by the Security and where any person had been detained contrary to this regulation the person or persons responsible for such detention shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction after trial before the High Court be liable to imprisonment for a period not less than six months and not exceeding five years and to a fine.

(9) Where a person who has been arrested under the provisions of regulation 18 or detained in pursuance of the provisions of regulation 19, or has surrendered in terms of the provisions of regulation 22 is produced before a court of competent jurisdiction, such court shall order that such person be remanded in the custody of the Fiscal in a prison established under the Prisons Ordinance.

(10) The provisions of section 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979, shall not apply to, and in relation to, any person who is produced before a magistrate under the provisions of paragraph (9), or appears before a Magistrate in any other manner and is detained or remanded in the custody of the Fiscal in any prison for reason of being suspected or accused of any offence under any emergency regulation. Such person shall remain in such custody for a continuous period of three months and shall not be released at any time prior to the expiry of such period, except in accordance with the provisions of regulation 54.


20.

(1) The Minister in charge of the subject of Defence or the Secretary may make a Rehabilitation Order to the effect that any person who has been detained under the provisions of regulations 17 or 19 of these regulations, or under the provisions of section 9 of Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979, as the case may be, in the interest of the welfare of such persons, be subject to rehabilitation for such period as is specified in the Order under the supervisions of the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation, appointed under regulation 21 of these regulations:

Provided that upon the making of a Rehabilitation Order under this regulation the Order made under [Regulations 17 or 19, and the Order made under Section 9 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979, shall be deemed to be revoked.

(2) A person subject to rehabilitation as aforesaid shall be released from the custody of the Commissioner-General of [Rehabilitation upon the revocation of the rehabilitation Order.

(3) The Minister or the Secretary may prior to making an Order under Paragraph (1), or Paragraph (2) consult the Advisory Board appointed under Section 12 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 or the Advisory Committee appointed under Regulation 17(4) of these regulations, as the case may be, or any other Administrative Board appointed by the Minister or Secretary for this purpose.


21.

(1) The President may by Order appoint by name or by office any person, to be the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation for any area or areas in Sri Lanka in respect of which a Proclamation under Section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance is applicable. it shall be the duty of the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation to execute and co-ordinate all activities relating to rehabilitation.

(2) The Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation, shall subject to the direction and control of the Committee of Secretaries and State Secretaries appointed for the purpose of monitoring rehabilitation programmes, exercise, perform and discharge all or any of the following powers, duties and functions in order to:

(a) establish and maintain, Youth Development and Training Centres for the rehabilitation of Youth assigned to such Centres;

(b) provide vocational, technical and other training to the youth at such Youth Development and Training Centres;

(c) certify the levels of training received by the youth at such Youth Development and Training centres;

(d) make recommendations, in consultation with the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in charge of the subject of Youth Affairs and Sports, to the Secretary regarding the release of youth who have completed their training;

(e) arrange financial assistance for youth who have completed their training at such Youth Development and Training Centres, so as to enable them to commence business enterprises, utilising the training they have received; and

(f) provide sports and recreational facilities and cultural programmes for the benefit of the youth at the Youth Development and Training Centres.

(3) The Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation may appoint by name or by office any person to be Deputy Commissioner, or Assistant Commissioner as may be necessary for the performance of his duties under these regulations in consultation with the Minister in charge of the subject of Youth Affairs and Sports.

(4) The Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation may delegate to any Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner appointed under Paragraph (3) any power, duty or function conferred or imposed, on, or assigned to such Commissioner-General, by or under these regulations.


22.

(1) Any person who surrenders (hereinafter referred to as the "surrendee'') to any police officer, or any member of the armed forces, or to any public officer or any other person or body of persons authorised by the President by Order, in connection with any offence under the Explosives Act, the Offensive Weapons Act, No. 18 of 1966, the Firearms Ordinance, the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 or under Chapter VI, Chapter VII or Chapter VIII of the Penal Code or under any emergency regulation, or through fear of terrorist activities shall be required to give a written statement to the officer or person authorised in that behalf to the effect that he is surrendering voluntarily.

(2) There shall be approved from time to time by the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence, Centres to be known as "Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Centres" (hereinafter referred to as "the Centre") for the purpose of receiving and keeping surrenders.

(3) The officer or person to whom a person surrenders in terms of paragraph (1), shall within ten (10) days of such surrender take steps to hand over the surrender to the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation who shall assign such surrendee to a Centre.

(4) The officer or any other person to whom a person surrenders in terms of paragraph (1) shall inform the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence, within a period of ten days of the surrender and handing over of the surrendee to the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation, that a voluntary surrender has been made and such person was handed over as contemplated in paragraph (3) above.

(5) On being assigned to a Centre the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation shall endeavour to provide the surrendee with an appropriate vocational, technical or other training during his stay at the centre. He shall within a period of two months from the date of taking over of such surrendee report to the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence indicating the nature of the rehabilitation being carried out in respect of the surrendee.

(6) When the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence received the report from the officer or person to whom a person surrendering in terms of paragraph (4), he shall make an order authorising the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation to keep such surrendee in a Centre and to rehabilitate him for a period not exceeding twelve months in the first instance. Such period will be computed from the date of handing over of such surrendee by the officer or person as the case may be, hi the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation.

(7) A surrendee assigned to a centre may, with the permission of the officer in-charge of the Centre, be entitled to meet his parents, or relations or guardian as the case may be, once in every two weeks.

(8) The Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation shall prior to the expiration of the period of rehabilitation report to the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence on the suitability of releasing the surrender or whether he need be rehabilitated for a further period.

(9) At the end of the period of twelve months the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence, after perusal of the report submitted by the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation, may

(a) order the release of such person; or

(b) extend the period of rehabilitation for periods of three months at a time, so however that the aggregate period of such extensions shall not exceed twelve months. Such extensions shall be made on the recommendation of the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation and the Administrative Board appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence in terms of regulation 20(3). (i.e. the processing committee)

(10) At the end of the extended period of rehabilitation the surrendee shall be released.

(11) The Superintendent of Police of the Division in-charge of the place where the person surrendered may, after the expiration of three months from the date of his being handed over to the Centre, with prior written approval of Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in-charge of the subject of Defence, investigate the involvement of any surrendee who is suspected of being connected with, or concerned in the commission of an offence set out in paragraph (1).

(12) (a) Where at the end of any trial a surrendee is found guilty of the offence in connection with which he is charged or indicated, the Court may in determining the sentence to be imposed on him, take into consideration the fact of his surrender.

(b) The Court may where appropriate, order that the accused be rehabilitated for further period as may be determined by Court, at a Centre.

(13) A surrender subject to rehabilitation by Order of Court may, if he acts in a manner prejudicial to, his rehabilitation programme or the interest of other surrenders at the Centre, on production by the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation before the court which sentenced him, be sentenced to imprisonment in lieu of such further rehabilitation after such summary inquiry as the court thinks fit.


23. Every member of the armed forces, who is for the time being engaged in escorting any prisoner or in guarding any prison or any other place where prisoners are confined or are employed in work, or in assisting in the quelling of any disturbance or violence on the part of any prisoners' or in recapturing any escaped prisoner or in enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of the any lawful order, shall be deemed to have all the powers and rights vested in a police officer by virtue of Section 77 (5:) of the Prisons Ordinance and the rules relating thereto made under that Ordinance.

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