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Sri Lanka's police chief considering legal action after video of assault on junior staff

Sri Lanka’s Police Chief Pujith Jayasundare is considering legal action against a news website which published a video of him assaulting two junior members of staff at the police headquarters for not obeying the police department's rules on morning meditation for Buddhists, said a spokesperson this morning.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara stated that “there are 17 lawyers among police officers and they are reviewing this ugly episode and will take appropriate legal action”.

The footage, which was published Lanka-E-News, was captured on CCTV and shows Mr Jayasundara manhandling and making threatening gestures to the two men earlier this year.

Journalists grilled Mr Gunasekara on the video at Sri Lanka’s weekly cabinet news briefing today and also raised questions regarding and incident of sexual harassment of a receptionist.

“I don’t know really,” responded Mr Gunasekara when asked about the reported sexual harassment.

He went on to say “social media websites act in a malicious manner with vengeance”. “We are going to take legal action against this institution for defamation,” he added.

See more from the Daily Mirror here.

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