Police abuse

A month after the government declared 22 May as Human Rights Day, police are accused of committing gang rape on a Tamil woman at a checkpoint in Maradana suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo. Velu Harshadevi, from Badulla in the Hill Country, is a widow and has two children aged six and four. While she was returning from work at 11pm on 24 June, policemen at the checkpoint had obtained her address after examining her national identity card. Three security personnel had arrived at Ms Harshadevi’s lodging at 3am and taken her away for questioning. She was forcibly taken to the checkpoint and gang raped.

Three police suspects were arrested on 25 June and the following day, three soldiers belonging to Operation Command Colombo (OCC) were taken into custody. The OCC is tasked with the security of the capital. Human rights NGOs say that the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency regulations granting wide powers to the security forces are the main cause for human rights violations being committed with impunity. In May, Amnesty International said that security force personnel were getting away with rape and called on the authorities to launch proper investigations.

Meanwhile, the Bindunuwewa Commission, chaired by Court of Appeal judge PHK Kulatilleke, began hearing evidence on 16 June, a day after the judge visited the scene of the crime. The Commission was appointed to investigate the massacre of 27 Tamil detainees in a rehabilitation centre at Bindunuwewa in Badulla District in October 2000. In the court case relating to the incident, 31 civilians and ten policemen face charges of murder and attempted murder. According to press reports, Attorney General KC Kamalasabaysan has recommended a trial-at-bar for the case, without a jury.


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