Sri Lanka’s head of police faced criticism over his decision to visit a church that was bombed in the deadly Easter Sunday attacks of 2019, despite his own role in failing to prevent the killings.

Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon's surprise visit to the St. Sebastian Church, Katuwapitiya, where nearly 67 devotees died during the attacks was slammed by the church, who said the state should instead focus on delivering justice. 

Tennakoon along with his aides surrounded by a heavy security detail went to the church in Negombo where he lit candles and met with survivors of the families at their homes. 

Father Cyril Gamini, official media spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, told reporters, “If people like the new IGP had done their duty properly, those 273 innocent people would still be alive today”.

Gamini, who is also the spokesperson for the Easter Attack Committee of the Sri Lankan Church, described the decision as a “barbaric act.” 

“The Presidential Commission of Inquiry has indicted Tennakoon for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings, but till now, no such investigation has been carried out [against him],” the priest said.

Father Manjula Niroshan, told reporters during a press briefing what is necessary is not the distribution of dry rations to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks nor paying visits, but serving justice regarding the attacks. 

“Until this incident (visit) we had no idea, we were not informed at all about it beforehand,” he said. “The fact that he would be visiting homes, was not even communicated to those people. Even the family members of the survivors were not informed of when the visit would take place or how.”

He said that for the last five years, their quest for justice has been clear. “We have been asking for the truth. Anything else apart from this request, we would be very cautious about. We are not asking for a pack of dry rations or for a visit.”

Tennakoon’s visit comes as three victims of the Easter Sunday bombings also filed a Fundamental Rights petition before Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court seeking an order restraining the current police chief from accepting any further appointments as Acting Inspector General of Police. The petitioners named Tennakoon as a senior official displaying serious neglect on the part of Sri Lanka’s police and recommended taking disciplinary action against him and other senior officials.

The petitions further detailed, how Colombo Archbishop Malcom Cardinal Ranjith wrote to the Speaker expressing concerns relating to Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena and Tennakoon and explaining the reasons why the said individuals were not qualified to be appointed as IGP.

The attacks on Easter Sunday killed over 250 people. The attack on Saint Sebastian’s Church alone caused over 219 casualties, the majority of whom were women and children.

Tennakoon has been serving in the capacity of Acting Inspector General of Police since December last year after the post became vacant following the retirement of C D Wickremaratne. Earlier this month, Sri Lanka’s president defended his controversial appointment of Tennakoon as the head of the island’s police force and claimed that the Constitutional Council “is part of the Executive,” in a demonstration of his apparent willingness to consolidate power in the president’s office. In a communique it stated that the President must perform his constitutional duties such as the appointment of the IGP and any “restraint placed on the president in the performance of this duty would be in contravention of the Constitution.”

In December 2023, the Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment, holding Tennakoon personally responsible for torture. In the judgment, the court found that he had personally visited an individual in remand in a “torture chamber” for a “brief session of torture”. An affidavit from the victim said he “beat the Petitioner with a ‘three-wheel rubber band’ after stripping him naked and ordering him to rub Siddhalepa on his genitalia”.

Furthermore, the HRCL also noted in its recommendation that 24 custodial deaths in three main districts in Western Province and 13 encounter deaths involving the police took place during Tennakoon's tenure. Tennakoon has also been accused of neglecting his duty to prevent violence between pro-Rajapaksa and anti-government protesters during the 'aragalaya' demonstrations in 2022. 

Read more on Tennakoon’s history of crimes by Ruki Fernando on Groundviews here.

See the full Supreme Court Judgement here.

Since taking over last year, Tennakoon has initiated the “Yukthiya” operation, assisted by the military in an attempt to crack down on crime and drug trafficking. The operation has come under fire from UN experts as well as diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka, for several reasons including arbitrary arrest unlawful detention and allegations of torture.