Reports say after Justice minister GL Peiris gave assuarances to Tamil political parties over Tamil harassment in Colombo in early July, over 50 Tamils, including university students and government officers, were arrested from lodges in Pettah and Wellawatte. A Pettah lodge was closed by the police.
TULF leader M Sivasithamparam says agreements with Mr Peiris - that at police stations a senior police officer will be in charge of arrests, police stations will have Tamil-speaking officers and a detention monitoring committee composed of Tamil representatives will be appointed - have not been implemented.
Police say search operations in Colombo continued in view of Black Tiger Day on 5 July and Black July, the anniversary of the anti-Tamil violence in 1983. Tamil MPs accuse the police of exceeding their powers under the law. Eight Tamil organisations say in a late July statement that frequent complaints have been ignored by security forces.
In early July the Supreme Court ordered the release of 54 year-old S Kanmani. She had been arrested at a lodge in Vavuniya on 12 March and detained at Kirillapone police station in Colombo. Theiventhira Shobana, 21, was arrested on 18 June at the Colombo airport on the way to Singapore for her wedding. Fundamental rights applications have been filed in the Supreme Court in respect a number of Tamils arrested at the airport in June.
Batticaloa Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) V Linganathan, his wife Angaladevi and assistant A Mangalarani were detained in Colombo on 25 June. Mr Linganathan accompanied his wife who came to the capital for medical treatment. Mrs Mangalarani was later released but others remain in detention.
In mid-July the Supreme Court also ordered the release of five Tamils arrested in Jaffna in late 1996 and early 1997, including 14 year-old student A Ashok, who had all suffered severe torture in custody. Another detainee Davis Aloysius arrested in Trincomalee on 17 March says he was hung by his legs and beaten with batons. His head was covered with a plastic bag dipped in petrol.
Reports say that in the last 30 months, 860 complaints were made against the police for breach of fundamental rights and the Police Department has paid Rs 6.6 million ($132,000) as compensation following court orders. In 158 cases against the police, the Attorney General’s Department failed to appear in court. Meanwhile Justice minister GL Peiris says human rights violations will be brought to an end in the next two years.