HRC officers visit places of detention, but Amnesty has questioned whether such infrequent visits can act as an effective deterrent against torture. In relation to remedying incidents of torture, the HRC has not made any recommendation for compensation to the victims or recommended any action to be initiated against perpetrators.
Amnesty says the powers of the HRC to receive and investigate reports of torture have been rarely used. Many people, including detainees who were tortured in custody and subsequently complained to the HRC have not received any response. Although the Torture Act was enacted in 1994, no one has been so far convicted for the crime of torture.
In a 26 June report titled Sri Lanka’s torture shame, the BBC refers to the five year-old boy who was tortured and murdered, along with seven others, by soldiers at Mirusuvil in Jaffna. The bodies were buried in a mass grave in December 2000. The 14 soldiers arrested have yet to be put on trial and the case has been transferred out of the Jaffna peninsula, making it difficult for witnesses to travel to give evidence.
Colombo lawyers say that in 99% of the cases of Tamils detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) or the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), a confession is extracted under torture. The written confessions are often in the Sinhala language, which many Tamils do not understand.
Reports say that P Sivanesan suffered severe torture at the police Special Task Force (STF) camp at Ilanthaimoddai in Mannar in June. S Benedict of Annfield Estate in Dickoya in the Hill Country, arrested in June 1998, was tortured by the police Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) in Kandy. He was handed over to the Special Investigation Division (SID) in Colombo in June 1999. His head was covered with a plastic bag dipped in petrol and he was repeatedly beaten. He was burned with cigarettes and was suffocated by immersion in water.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says Thebuwana police arrested Sujeewa Priyadarshana on 15 January and assaulted him mercilessly. He died in police custody on 30 January. Jagath Kumara who was arrested by Payagala police in June 2000 suffered torture and died in Colombo’s Welikada prison eight days later. Ajith Bandara was arrested by Keselwatte police on 2 May and tortured in custody. AHRC says he has had no response to his complaint to the HRC.