SRI LANKA: Innocent man brutally assaulted and DIG (Central Province) prevented the victim from making a complaint

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Suppaiah Sivakumar (33) of No: 51/2, Pinnakutiya Watte, Allepola, Senarathwela, Teldeniya in the Kandy district was illegally arrested and severely tortured by police officers attached to the Teldeniya Police Station on 15 May, 2011. Sivakumar with his family members went to see the Theru Pageant of the Nithulemada Hindu Temple on the night of 14 May. As a result of a dispute among the on-lookers the family started to leave. However, police officers arrived and started to beat Sivakumar mercilessly, paying no attention to the victims that repeatedly told them that Sivakumar had not been involved. He was brought out onto the road and exhibited as a criminal before being taken to the police station. He was later released by the police and admitted first to the Manikhinna Government Hospital and in turn to the Kandy Teaching Hospital. When Sivakumar’s wife tried to make a complaint to the Teldeniya Police Station and to the DIG of the Central Province they refused to accept her complaint. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country and of the way in which the police provide immunity to their own. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

According to the information the Asian Human Rights Commission received Mr. Suppaiah Sivakumar (33) of No: 51/2, Pinnakutiya Watte, Allepola, Senarathwela, Teldeniya in the Kandy district is married, a father of two daughters and a mason by profession. 

In the evening of 14 May, 2011 Sivakumar, his wife and two daughters went to see the Hindu religious festival held in the Nithulemada Hindu Temple. Just after the ‘Theru pageant’ (religious event to pay respect to the Hindu Gods) started Sivakumar and his family decided to watch the pageant by sitting close to the Bambaragala Junction close to the golf ground of Victoria. After some time at around 1.30 am, (15 May), they observed that a dispute broke out between two groups of viewers and soon the altercation turned violent. The other bystanders started to leave the scene and Sivakumar and his family members also decided to go. 

After a few moments a group of police officers attached to the Teldeniya Police Station which included Police Sergeant (PS) Jayarathna and two officers of the Civil Defense Force came to the place and started to indiscriminately beat Sivakumar with poles they collected from the fence near the road. Sivakumara continuously told the officers that he had nothing to do with the dispute. But officers paid no attention and continued with the beating. Sivakumar’s wife, Nirosha Sanjeewani and the two daughters tried to intervene with the officers and explain his innocence. 

Then one of the victims of the dispute who had been assaulted by the other group of people intervened and told the officers that Sivakumar had not been involved. However, as in the case of Sivakumar’s wife and family this person was also ignored and the police continued to beat him. Another witness and victim of the dispute actually gave the officers the names of the culprits and pleaded with the police not to assault Sivakumar. This person also was ignored. 

Sivakumar told the officers he was innocent and that if they continued to beat him he would make a complaint to the higher authorities in Kandy. Upon hearing this PS Jayarathna and the two other officers got angry and beat him more severely. When Sivakumar fell to the ground PS Jayarathna and the others kicked and trampled him. 

They asked Sivakumar to reveal the houses of the persons who ran away after beating the victims but Sivakumar could not identify any of them. PS Jayarathna and two others brought Sivakumar to the Nithulemada Hindu Temple which was 8 KM away from the place by foot. He was ordered to stand upright in front of the temple in order to humiliate him as a large number of people who came to participate in the religious ceremony saw how he was treated in a very degrading manner. 

Meanwhile, his wife, Sanjeewani went to make a complaint to the Teldeniya Police Station regarding her husband but the officers on duty refused to record it. 

Sivakumar was kept in front of the temple until 6.30 am. Then he was brought to the Teldeniya Police Station. After that PS Jayarathna prepared a document and ordered Sivakumar to sign it but he refused to sign the document as he could not read Sinhala. 

Then Sanjeewani came to the police station and saw Sivakumar. She saw that Sivakumar was not able to raise his head and his arms and legs were swollen. When Sanjeewani spoke to Sivakumar he told her how the police officers tried to forced him to admit that he had been assaulted by an unknown group of people and not by police officers. However, he told he had refused. At that point PS Jayarathna went to Sanjeewani and told her that not only could they beat him with impunity but if necessary they could kill him. 

Later they tried again to force him to sign the document that was prepared by the PS Jayarathna but again he refused. Then the police officers prepared another document and asked him to sign that. They told him that in the new document it was explained that he was tortured by the police officers. Due to his enormous suffering and fear he signed that document. Then he was locked up in a cell until around 4.45 pm when the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the police station came and released Sivakumar without any case proceeding after recording a note. 

Sivakumar’s family came to the station and brought him to the Government Hospital of Manikhinna for treatment. The doctors advised them to admit Sivakumar to the hospital for treatment considering his condition. He was treated in that hospital for three days until 18 May but when he started vomiting the doctors transferred him to the Kandy Teaching Hospital for further treatment. He was treated there until 19 March. During his stay at the Manikhinna hospital several police officers came and recorded a statement regarding the assault. 

While he was treated in the Kandy Teaching Hospital the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) examined him. When the JMO questioned him on the history of the assault Sivakumar precisely told to the JMO that he had been tortured by the police officers of the Teldeniya Police Station and specifically identified PS Jayarathna and the two other Civil Defence Force officers attached to the same police station. But Sivakumar observed that the JMO wanted to record the history that Sivakumar was assaulted by a group of unknown persons. Sivakumar strongly states that JMO did not execute his professional duty but acted maliciously in protecting the police officers. 

Meanwhile on 16 May Sanjeewani and her brother went to the office of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) (Central Province) to make a complaint. Though he listened to the complaint he did not allow recording of the complaint at his office. Instead he informed them that he was visiting Teldeniya Police Station at 3 pm to meet with the OIC. 

Sivakumar states that he had been brutally assaulted, illegally arrested, humiliated and detained by the officers of the Teldeniya Police Station and that the officers of that station and the DIG (Central Province) refused to record a complaint which resulted in the failure to investigate. This is nothing less than the police providing impunity to this own officers. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

The Asian Human Rights Commission has reported innumerable cases of torturing innocent by the Sri Lankan police which are illegal under international and local law which have taken place at different Police Station in the country over the past few years. 

The State of Sri Lanka sign and ratified the CAT on 3 January 1994. Following state obligations Sri Lanka adopted Act number 22 of 1994 the law adopted by the Sri Lankan parliament making torture a crime that can be punishable for minimum seven years and not less than ten years on being proven guilty. The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is suppose to file indictments in the case where credible evidence were found on torturing people by state officers. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 
Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the allegations of illegal arrest, illegal detention, torturing by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of a state. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department. Further, please also request the NPC and the IGP to have a special investigation into the malpractices of the police officers for abusing the state officers’ powers. 

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on this regard. 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER