Sri Lanka Monitor January-March 2004

Profound threat

THE Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) says in a 26 March report titled Endemic torture and the collapse of policing in Sri Lanka that despite recommendations for change by UN bodies, including the Human Rights Committee, torture in police stations in the island continues to be endemic. The report describes 31 cases of torture or killing by police belonging to 29 police stations, involving 46 victims. In one case, a detainee suffering from tuberculosis was forced to spit into the mouth of another detainee Tissa Kumara at the police station in Welipenne in Kalutara District. ALRC emphasizes that the police force is in no position to protect the rule of law and citizens’ rights; on the contrary, it is a profound threat to the security of both. Although the Torture Act of 1994 prescribes mandatory seven-year sentence for torture, there is undue hesitation on the part of the judiciary about applying the law. According to the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Dehiwatte Jayathilaka, 45, was arrested on 9 March and suffered severe torture at the Mahawela police station. He had complained of body pain when his son visited him. The following day, Mr Jayathilaka’s body was found in front of a neighbour’s house.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), an average of one person was shot dead by police every ten days in the first 70 days of 2004. All victims were civilians and the situations were not life-threatening to take such drastic action. Student Suranga Sampath, 17, died in police shooting while attending a musical show in Gampola on 10 January. Sanath Yasaratne, 22, died after he was shot in the streets by police at Badureliya in Kalutara District on 22 February. Ranjith Leelaratne was killed by police on 10 March at a police post in Anuradhapura.

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