The governments announcement that permission from the Ministry of Defence is required for all functions to be conducted with the participation of the general public, and that the approval of the nearest police station must be obtained for all public functions to be conducted on a regional level, will have disastrous effects on the rule of law and democracy in the country for many reasons. The most worrying aspect of this is the granting of further powers to the local police who have already become a serious problem to the population due to the widespread practice of corruption by the police throughout the country.
The new powers given to the police to be the arbiter on what functions may be held will further enhance opportunities for corruption, which is accompanied by all forms of harassment.
A recently issued volume of Article 2, a quarterly publication by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), is devoted to a study of the use of the powers of arrest and detention in several countries of Asia, including Sri Lanka, by the police for the purpose of making money. The cases cited in the volume give details of how people are arrested, detained and charges are fabricated against them, solely for the purpose of the police being able to obtain bribes. Where the victims fail to pay these bribes they may be exposed to torture or illegal imprisonment on the basis of fictitious charges of non-bailable offenses.
The unbridled power that the police have acquired for themselves over a long period of time has created a situation where the use of arrest and detention, either for making money for themselves or for petty political purposes in order to support local politicians of the regime, or to suppress the local politicians of the opposition, have become a common affair in several countries of which Sri Lanka figures prominently. Such capacity to abuse power with impunity makes many local police officers, particularly the officers in charge of local police stations, close allies with criminal elements and the underground. Often the Officer-in-Charge of a police station is perceived more as a kind of war lord than a law enforcement officer.
One case given in this publication illustrates in detail the manner in which an innocent civilian can be trapped and destroyed if they are caught up in this web where police officers play a key role in suppressing the law.
A local businessman, Sugath Nishanta Fernando, bought a vehicle from a police inspector paying a relatively large sum. The inspector appeared to be the owner of the vehicle and Sugath bought the vehicle on that understanding. However, the police inspector failed to transfer the ownership because he, in fact, did not possess the ownership of the vehicle himself. It was a stolen vehicle sold by the inspector, using his official position to create the impression that there was no illegality involved in the transaction. When Sugath eventually found that the police inspector had cheated him he made complaints. The making of a complaint against a police inspector created for Sugath not just one enemy but a large gang of enemies by way of the officers of the entire Negombo Police Station. In the months to come he and his entire family were tortured, he was constantly harassed by the filing of fabricated charges, he was threatened with death many times and finally on the 20th September, 2008 he was assassinated. To date no one has been arrested for this murder. Subsequently his widow and two children have been living in hiding without protection. Unable to obtain protection from her own government she has also filed a petition before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Besides the continuing threats to her, her lawyer was also threatened and his office premises burned down on the 8th February, 2009. The lawyer too now has to live in hiding. Furthermore, the human rights organisation which supported the widow also received repeated death threats and they too have had to take precautions to safeguard themselves from possible attacks from the officers of the Negombo Police Station.
This case is just one of many recorded events out of thousands of others which are being reported constantly from many parts of the country about the abuse of police powers of arrest, detention and the filing of charges contrary to the law and legal procedures. In another report published in January this year, the Asian Human Rights Commission gave details of 200 such cases out of over a thousand cases researched for the publication of this report. In none of these cases has there been any redress for the victims.
The excuse given for the new announcement giving greater powers to the police to decide on public gatherings is the bomb blast which killed 15 persons at a mosque in Akuressa, in the south of the country. The attack was allegedly carried out by the LTTE. If even in a predominantly Sinhala area deep in the south such a security lapse has happened, the blame must be placed entirely on the police. It is the duty of the police to provide proper intelligence in order to avoid this very type of attack and also to provide sufficient security to prevent such attacks. In this particular event six government ministers were participating along with many members of the public. If even in such a meeting security cannot be provided by the police this is a matter of serious concern regarding security.
The failure to provide security should have lead to serious inquiries initiated by the government and been carried out by the Inspector General of Police himself. In any country where there is respect for rule of law all the relevant top police officers in the area would have been removed and all the security arrangements reviewed. Even the Inspector General of Police and the relevant ministers should have been questioned by parliament on such disregard for security. However, no such things happen anymore in Sri Lanka. Scrutiny of the security forces does not take place anymore. Instead the same security agencies are granted even greater powers.
The new announcement given by the Ministry of Defense subjecting all public gatherings to the authority of local police stations will not enhance greater security. On the contrary it will, in fact, cause greater abuse of the powers of arrest and detention for the harassment of political opponents and for officers to make profit for themselves. This will amount to more encouragement for lawlessness.
