Ada Derana

Highly Factual

Sri Lanka Police have launched an investigation into a viral video circulating on social media, showing a female tuition teacher being escorted by police motorcycles and vehicles to an event organized by her. Police Media Spokesperson SSP Buddhika Manathunga confirmed that the individual in question is a private tuition teacher who conducts classes for students preparing for the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. Addressing the controversy, SSP Manathunga explained that the Sri Lanka Police may provide officers and vehicles for specific public affairs — such as for filming a movie — but only after a thorough intelligence review of the request and its context, including the script. He further clarified that police officers may also be deployed for public events such as musical shows or ticketed functions, but this is permitted only upon payment of a required fee. In this particular case, the teacher is reported to have requested police support, claiming it was needed for a ceremony honoring students who had successfully passed the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. The event was said to involve nearly 8,000 students and 35,000 parents. However, preliminary investigations have revealed that the teacher may have used the police escort to boost her personal image, raising serious concerns about the misuse of state resources. Sri Lanka Police have since launched an inquiry into how the vehicles and officers were allocated for the event, and whether any police personnel were complicit in the unauthorized use of official resources, SSP Manathunga said.