SRI LANKA: An innocent man is illegally arrested, detained, tortured and forced to sign false documents by the Rattota Police 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. G R Sampath Prasanna Piyadasa (37) is a three wheeler driver by profession. After witnessing a group of unknown persons damaging his vehicle he and his wife made a report to the Rattota Police Station. Instead of investigating his complaint the officers arrested him, illegally detained him and tortured him to sign false documents implicating him in the theft of cinnamon. Subsequent complaints to the Assistant Superintendent of Police have gone unanswered. Sampath has been falsely accused of a crime he did not commit and denied justice.

CASE NARRATIVE: 

Mr. G R Sampath Prasanna Piyadasa (37), resides at No: 114, Ihala Owala, Kaikawela, Rattota in Matale District and is a three wheeler driver by profession. Sampath was able to purchase his three wheeler after his wife went to Middle East as a migrant worker and returned from there with the money she earned. The couple has three children.

Sampath used to park his three wheeler at the park designated for three wheelers close to the Kaikawela Divisional Secretariats Office where he waited for passengers.

On 3 June, 2012 at around 9.30 pm Sampath was called for a hire by a person by the name of Pradeep Sarath Kumara who wanted to go to Kaikawela from Rattota in Matale. As Sampath was moving off a lorry blocked their way and Padeep requested the driver to move to a siding and this led to a small dispute.

However as they took off in the three wheeler and were proceeding to Kaikawela they have noticed that a van was following them. Then a little while later they also noticed a motor cycle following them along with the van. Fearing the van and the motor cyclist, Sampath was asked by Pradeep to stop the three wheeler in house compound nearby for safety. As the three wheeler stopped Pradeep alighted and ran away, telling Sampath to run for safety as well.

Sampath however climbed the hill behind the house where the three-wheeler was parked and from his hiding place watched what was happening to his vehicle. The mob, around seven men who alighted from the van and the motor cycle, smashed the three-wheeler with poles while calling for Pradeep.

In the meantime Sampath called his wife Nilanthi Kumari from his mobile phone and informed her about the incident. In turn, she called 119 (the emergency number) and made a complaint to the police but the police officers asked her to make a Written Complaint at the Rattota Police Station to initiate their proceedings.

When Sampath came home he went along with his wife to the Rattota Police Station. When he entered into the police station the officers on duty informed them that the police station have received a phone call believed to be from a person whom identified himself as Musamil about the same incident accusing Sampath of stealing a bag of cinnamon.

Hence Sampath and his wife were treated rudely by the police officers and they were not allowed to make a complaint, instead Sampath was locked up in the police cell and was severely beaten by several police officers. Later the police officers visited the scene and found that the badly damaged three wheeler that had been thrown into a nearby river. Sampath was detained in the police station for two days from the 3rd to the 5th. Later a statement was recorded from Nilanthi at around 5.30 am on 4 June 2012.

Then the police officers forced Sampath to place his signature on several documents which Sampath refused. When the officers threatened him with further torture Sampath finally agree to sign them out of fear. Sampath categorically states that those documents did not contain anything recorded from him. He further states that he was never shown the content of those documents.

Later the police produced Sampath before the Magistrate of Matale at 1.30 pm on the 5 June. The number of the case which the police filed against him is B/ 907/12 and he was released on bail. At the Magistrate’s Court he learned that the police accused him of engaging in a theft which he denied before the Magistrate. Sampath was able to identify the three police officers who were involved in torturing him as, Wasantha, Weerasinghe and Hennanayake all attached to the Rattota Police Station.

Sampath later learned that police officers were bribed by a very rich estate owner named of Musamil who suspected Sampath of stealing of some cinnamon. Sampath states that he has never stolen anything and does not know Musamil or is aware of any of his properties. Sampath states that Musamil and the police officers illegally arrested, detained, severely tortured and filed fabricated charges against him baselessly. Sampath further states that there is no any evidence against him. The police never revealed any complaint or explained any details which identified him as a person engaged with that theft.

Sampath states that police filed this fabricated charge to suppress him for prevent him from proceeding for legal steps against the perpetrators who severely tortured him.

Sampth’s wife in the mean time attempted to make a complaint to the Rattota Police Station regarding the torture him by the police officers and the damaging of his three wheeler by an unknown group of people. But her request was denied by the officers on duty.

Later she complained to the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) regarding the refusal of the officers at Rattota Police Station. Then with the intervention of the ASP she was allowed to register her complaint. However, the officers have not taken any steps to investigate any of these illegal activities of any of the parties. Sampath states he is being denied justice.

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.

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