SRI LANKA: Victim of a sexual harassment continuously harassed by the Dikwella Police and denied justice

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Miss S.H. Thushari Dilrukshi of Dikwella in the Matara District was illegally arrested by police officers attached to the Dikwella Police Station. She had earlier made a complaint of sexual harassment by a youth who also attacked and injured her father. Rather than arrest the youth the police officers arrested her father and charged him in another case. Her attempts to obtain justice have so far been thwarted by the police working in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country.

CASE NARRATIVE:

On 28 November 2011 Miss S.H. Thushari Dilrukshi of Dikwella in the Matara District was illegally arrested by police officers attached to the Dikwella Police Station. The officers involved were Sub Inspector (SI) Pushpakumara and two police constables (PCs).

At about 3PM, on 26 January 2011, a youth called Suranga Lahiru Prabath Parananamanage came to Thushari’s house under the influence of alcohol and started blackguarding Thushari and her younger brother in filthy language. Thushari, a young woman of 22 years was grabbed by this youth who held her by the hair, placed his hand about her shoulder and tried to sexually abuse her. She managed to escape and ran in search of her father who was working at a construction site at the harbor.

Her father immediately came with her to their house and he asked Suranga for an explanation. Suranga then started verbally abusing him also. Thereafter there was a struggle and Suranga tried to stab Thushari’s father but fortunately she and her brother was able to halt the attack. However, one of her father’s hands was bleeding due to an injury received during the struggle. Suranga threatened her father, saying, “Do not come to the beach, I will kill you if you come there”.

As they were afraid of the possibility of further violence, Thushari and her father went to the Dikwella Police Station to lodge a complaint the same day. At first the police took Thushari’s father into custody and they later learned that before their arrival at the police station, Suranga had made a complaint against him. The police officers then refused to record their complaint. However, Thushari and her father informed the police officers that if they did not accept the complaint they would proceed to the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP) to make a complaint. The officers then allowed them to make the complaint and Thushari’s brother was named as a witness. Thushari realised that the officers on duty were inebriated.

After recording the complaint the officers took them to their house where the policemen broke open the front door. They then threatened them not to make any complaint about the damage to the door.

Thushari’s father was taken back to the police station and remanded. On 27 January 2011, he was produced before the Magistrate’s Court of Matara and released bail which was set at Rs. 3500/= in case no. 48598/11.

Subsequently the case has been called on several occasions but remains pending due to the Attorney General’s (AG) report not being ready. Thushari and her family members still do not know the exact reason for filing the case against her father and the reasons for seeking the AG’s advice.

Later the police filed a case against Suranga for sexual abuse under case no. 40209 also in the Magistrate’s Court of Matara. This case is also still pending.

On 28 November 2011, Thushari was at home preparing to attend court for Suranga’s case. At around 6 AM, three police officers in civilian clothes arrived while she was still in her under skirts and abused her in filth language. They threatened her saying, “Come to police station, if you don’t come I’ll give you a slap on your ear and send you to prison for 14 days”.

When Thushari inquired as to whether there was a warrant issued by any court against her the officers refused to respond and instead continue to verbally abuse her and waited until she got ready. They made the arrest without a woman constable being present and dragged her into a three wheeler. At that time her mother said, “You cannot take my daughter alone”. And she also got into the three-wheeler.

The officers then brought Thushari and her mother to the Dikwella Police Station where they waited for three hours. They were then taken to the Magistrate’s Court of Matara where she was produced and represented by Attorney-at-Law, Ranjith Rathnayaka. The Magistrate informed the open court that she was the plaintiff and that there was no warrant for her arrest. The Magistrate released her after warning the police. Suranga’s case was postponed to 26 March 2012.

On 29 November 2011, she went to SP’s office of Matara and made a complaint about this bogus warrant, but since then there has been no inquiry. As there was no response after one & half months, then she went to SP’s office on several occasions but to no avail.

Later she received a message by a police officer from the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Matara, Damayantha Wijayasri, informing her to go to the Dikwella Police Station to inquire about it.

As there was no progress she went to Regional Office of Human Rights Commission (HRC) at Matara and made a complaint against the police officers attached to the Dikwella Police Station. Her HRC case no. is HRC/MT/14/12/S.

For a number of days the police did not participate in the inquiry. Finally, on 9 May 2012, an inquiry was held and the police submitted that she had been arrested on a warrant. However, they had not brought the necessary books or documents to prove this.

Thushari produced the certified copy of the case proceedings of case no. 40209, taken from the courts. The HRC stated that the entries in the proceedings certificate were not clear and requested the applicant to produce another certified copy. Thushari states that the police and the officers of the HRC are working together to deny her justice for the indecencies she was subjected to. The case is still pending in HRC, Matara.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has reported innumerable cases of the victims of crimes who have face enormous harassment by the police; on several some occasions the witnesses and the victims have been killed by the perpetrators. The AHRC has continuously urged the state of Sri Lanka on the necessity of adopting a witness protection law and implementing a successful witness protection mechanism to verify the smooth running of the rule of law system. The state of Sri Lanka is bound to implement the legal provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as it has signed and ratified the convention. Nevertheless the lack of protection offered to those who are willing to take cases against criminals, abusive police officers and state authorities, means that the law is under-utilised continues to be employed as a tool by the police to harass people. This not only takes a long-term toll on the victims and their families, but on society as a whole, by undermining of civilian respect for the law and encouraging impunity.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the case rape and the witness protection. The criminals as well as the police officers who are having lethargic approach to investigate the crimes must also try before the court of law for breaching the laws of the country and also should be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women on this regard.

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