THE CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST

REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA

Revised Edition – 2023

CHAPTERIII
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Freedom of 1. Every person is entitled to freedom of thought,

thought,
conscience conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or
and religion to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

Freedom 2. No person shall be subjected to torture or to

from torture
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Right to 3. (1) All persons are equal before the law and are
equality
entitled to the equal protection of the law.

(2) No citizen shall be discriminated against on the

grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political
opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds:

Providedthatitshallbelawfultorequirea person to
acquire within a reasonable time sufficient knowledge of
any language as a qualification for any employment or
office in the Public, Judicial or Local Government Service
or in the service of any Public Corporation, where
suchknowledge is reasonably necessary for the discharge of
the duties of such employment or office:

Provided further that it shall be lawful to require

a person to have a sufficient knowledge of any language
as a qualification for any such employment or office where no
function of that employment or office can be discharged
otherwise than with a knowledge of that language.

(3) No person shall, on the grounds of race, religion,

language, caste, sex or any one of such grounds, be
subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition
with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels,
places of public entertainment and places of public
worship of his own religion.

(4) Nothing in this Article shall prevent special

provision being made, bylaw, subordinate legislation or
executive action, for the advancement of women, children
or disabled persons.

4. (1) No person shall be arrested except according Freedom from

to procedure established by law. Any person arrested shall arbitrary
arrest,
be informed of the reason for his arrest. Detention
and
(2) Every person held in custody, detained or punishment,
and prohibition
otherwise deprived of personal liberty shall be brought of retrospective
before the judge of the nearest competent court according penal
to procedure established by law and shall not be further legislation

held in custody, detained or deprived of personal liberty

except upon and in terms of the order of such judge made
in accordance with procedure established by law.

(3) Any person charged with an offence shall be

entitled to be heard, in person or by an Attorney-at-Law,
at a fair trial by a competent court.

(4) No person shall be punished with death or

imprisonment except by order of a competent court, made
in accordance with procedure established by law. The
arrest, holding in custody, detention or other deprivation
of personal liberty of a person, pending investigation or
trial, shall not constitute punishment.

(5) Every person shall be presumed innocent until he

is proved guilty:

Provided that the burden of proving particular

facts may, by law, be placed on an accused person.

(6) No person shall be held guilty of an offence on

account of any act or omission which did not, at the time
of such act or omission, constitute such an offence and no
penalty shall be imposed for any offence more severe than
the penalty in force at the time such offence was
committed.

Nothing in this Article shall prejudice the trial

 and punishment of any person for any act or omission
which, at the time when it was committed, was criminal
according to the general principles of law recognized by
the community of nations.

It shall not be contravention of this Article to require

the imposition of a minimum penalty for an offence
provided that such penalty does not exceed the maximum
penalty prescribed for such offence at the time such
offence was committed.

(7) The arrest, holding in custody, detention or

other deprivation of personal liberty of a person, by reason
of a removal order or a deportation order made under the
provisions of the Immigrants and Emigrants Act
ortheIndo-Ceylon Agreement(Implementation) Act, No.
14 of 1967, or such other law as may be enacted in
substitution there for, shall not be a contravention of this
Article.

Freedom 5. (1)Every citizen is entitled to–

Of
(a) the freedom of speech and expression
Speech,
assembly, including publication;
association,
occupation, (b) the freedom of peaceful assembly;
movement, &c.
(c) the freedom of association;

(d) the freedom to form and join a trade union;

(e) the freedom, either by himself or in

association with others, and either in public
or in private, to manifest his religion or
belief in worship, observance, practice and
teaching;

(f) the freedom by himself or in association

with others to enjoy and promote his own
culture and to use his own language;
 (g) the freedom to engage by himself for in
association with others in any lawful
occupation, profession, trade, business or
enterprise;

(h) the freedom of movement and of choosing

his residence within Sri Lanka; and

(i) the freedom to return to Sri Lanka.

(2) A person who, not being a citizen of any other

country, has been permanently and legally resident in Sri
Lanka immediately prior to the commencement of the
Constitution and continues to be so resident shall be
entitled, for a period of ten years from the commencement
of the Constitution, to the rights declared and recognized
by paragraph (1) of this Article.

14A. (1) Every citizen shall have the right of access Right
Of
to any information as provided for by law, being Access
information that is required for the exercise or protection to
of a citizen’s right held by:- information

(a) the State, a Ministry or any Government

Departmentoranystatutorybodyestablished or
created by or under any law;

(b) any Ministry of a Minister of the Board of

Ministers of a Province or any Departmentor
any statutory body established or created by a
statute of a Provincial Council;

(c) anylocalauthority;and

(d) any other person, who is in possession of

such information relating to any institution
referredtoin sub-paragraphs (a),(b)or(c) of
this paragraph.

1 -Inserted bytheNineteenthAmendmentto theConstitutionSec.2.

 (2) No restrictions shall be placed on the right
declared and recognized by this Article, other than such
restrictions prescribed by law as are necessary in a
democratic society, in the interests of national security,
territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of
disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals
and of the reputation or the rights of others, privacy,
prevention of contempt of court, protection of parliamentary
privilege, for preventing the disclosure of information
communicated in confidence, or for maintaining the
authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

(3) In this Article, “citizen” includes a body

whether incorporated or unincorporated, if not less than
three - fourths of the members of such body are citizens.

Restrictions on 6. (1) The exercise and operation of the

fundamental
rights
fundamental rights declared and recognized by Articles
13(5) and 13(6) shall be subject only to such restrictions
as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national
security. For the purposes of this paragraph “law”
includes regulations made under the law for the time
being relating to public security.

(2) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

right declared and recognized by Article 14(1)(a) shall be
subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law
in the interests of racial and religious harmony or in
relation to parliamentary privilege, contempt of court,
defamation or incitement to an offence.

(3) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

right declared and recognized by Article 14(1)(b) shall be
subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law
in the interests of racial and religious harmony.

(4) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

right declared and recognized by Article 14(1)(c) shall be
subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by
law in the interests of racial and religious harmony or
national economy.

(5) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

rightdeclaredandrecognizedbyArticle14(1)(g)shall be
subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed bylaw in
the interests of national economy or in relation to –

(a) The professional, technical, academic,

financial and other qualifications necessary for
practising any profession or carrying on any
occupation, trade, business or enterprise and
the licensing and disciplinary control of the
person entitled to such fundamental right;
and

(b) the carrying on by the State, a State agency

or apublic corporation of any trade, business,
industry, service or enterprise whether to the
exclusion, complete or partial, of citizens or
otherwise.

(6) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

right declared and recognized by Article14 (1)(h) shall be
subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in
the interests of national economy.

(7) The exercise and operation of all the fundamental

rights declared and recognized byArticles12, 13(1),13(2)
and 14 shall be subject to such restrictions as may be
prescribed by law in the interests of national security,
public order and the protection of public health or
morality, or for the purpose of securing due recognition
and respect for the rights and freedoms of others, or of
meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a
democratic society. For the purposes of this paragraph
“law” includes regulations made under the law for the
time being relating to public security.

(8) The exercise and operation of the fundamental

rightsdeclaredandrecognizedbyArticles12(1),13and14
 shall, in their application to the members of the Armed
Forces, Police Force and other Forces charged with the
maintenance of public order, be subject to such
restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of
the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance
of discipline among them.

Existing 7. (1)All existing written law

writtenlaw and un written law shall be valid and operative
and
unwritten notwithstanding any inconsistency with the preceding
law to provisions of this Chapter.
continuein
force
(2) The subjection of any person on the order of a
competent court to any form of punishment recognized by
any existing written law shall not be a contravention of
the provisions of this Chapter.

Remedy 8. Every person shall be entitled to apply to the

forthe Supreme Court, as provided by Article 126, in respect of
infringementof
fundamental the infringement or imminent infringement, by executive
rights or administrative action, of a fundamental right to which
by
executive
such person is entitled under the provisions of this Chap
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