SRI LANKA: Torture to death of a young scientist

SRI LANKA: Torture to death by the police; No investigation and punishment

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– Full Name of the Victim: Maldeni Kamkanamlage Piyaratne (33)

– Residential Address: 239/C/A, Daduwawa, Peradeniya

– Date of Torture by police: July 3, 2002

– Date of Death: July 3, 2002

– Name of the Complainant: H.H.M. Nilmini Heart (wife of the victim)

– Complainant¡¯s present address: 145, Galenbidunuwewa

– Relevant Police Station: Peradeniya

– Name of the Officer-in-Charge of this station: Police Inspector. K.M.S. Bovela

– Post Mortem Inquiry conducted by: JMO-Kandy Hospital

– The Case Report Number: B-53559/2002
CASE DETAILS

Maldeni Kankanamage Piyaratne was born on Nov. 18, 1969. He entered Peradeniya University in 1991 to study biological sciences and obtained a special degree in zoology in 1996. He was married in 1997 and had one daughter.

After graduation, he joined a research project conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IIMI) in collaboration with the University of Peradeniya as a research assistant and was based in the same department where he had studied: the Dept. of Zoology of the University of Peradeniya. His supervisors were Prof. Felix Amerasinghe and Dr. Priyani Amerasinghe of the same department.

Because Piyaratne had a fever, his wife admitted him to the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital on June 29, 2002. Before admission to the hospital, blood tests were taken at the Asiri Medical Laboratory in Bogambara, and the test reports showed that the blood was normal. After admission to the hospital, blood samples were again taken and sent for a report to the Durdens private laboratory in Bogambara. The report was received on July 3, 2002.

Piyaratne’S wife, Nilmini Herat, had seen him at the hospital on the morning of July 3, 2002, and he had been quite normal and talked to her in the usual way. A little later a colleague of Piyaratne’s, named Ranasinghe, called Nilmini Herat at about 10:30 and said that her husband was being beaten by the police near the Gatabe Temple. This colleague, who had been passing the place on a bus, had seen Piyaratne being beaten and had intervened. The colleague told the police of his and Piyaratne’s identity and asked them not to beat Piyaratne. At this time, Piyaratne still had a canula attached to his hand and was wearing the sarong he had been wearing in the hospital.

The colleague was chased away, and Piyaratne was taken to the Peradeniya police station, which was nearby, and beaten further. The colleague rushed to the university and came back to the police station with Prof. Parakkrama Karunaratne to intervene on behalf of Piyaratne. The time it took for the colleague to return with Prof. Parakkrama Karunaratne was no more than 30 minutes. When the colleague and the professor arrived, the police station was being washed, and they were told by the police that Piyaratne had been taken to the hospital. At the same time, Piyaratne’s wife also arrived at the police station and saw that the police station was being washed to clean it of blood.

Piyaratne’s wife rushed to the Paradeniya Teaching Hospital and saw her husband on a trolley. There were wounds on his hands and face, and he was bleeding. His hands and feet were bound with iron cuffs. He was still alive. His wife said, “the doctors had attempted to give him oxygen but were unable to do so because his hands and feet were locked.” The police went back to get the keys for the locks. By the time they returned, Piyaratne was dead.

Piyaratne’s wife immediately lodged a complaint stating that the Peradeniya police were responsible for her husband’s death.

There is speculation as to how Piyaratne came to be out of the hospital not long after his wife had seen him in the hospital. It is believed that some injection, which might have been administered to him, may have caused some mental disorientation. However, there is no medically confirmed explanation on this matter. In fact, there has been no inquiry into the matter at all.

The following factors stand out in relation to this case:

1. The time gap between the beatings and Piyaratne’s death is very short. The whole incident had taken only approximately 45 minutes and had resulted in the victim’s death. This suggests extremely brutal types of assault.

2. Injuries were on the head as well as other parts of the body.

3. When the police had beaten him, Piyaratne still had the canula attached to his hand, which clearly indicates that he had been in the hospital.

4. The police had not listened to Piyaratne’s colleague begging them not to beat Piyaratne.

5. When his colleague had seen Piyaratne when he was in the police station, he had been handcuffed with his hands behind him, but his dead body had been handcuffed with his hands to his front, and his feet were also cuffed.

6. The police station had been hurriedly washed after Piyratne’s body was returned to the hospital.

7. The hospital authorities too are answerable to the charge of negligence, for not being responsible and for not looking after a patient who was in their custody.

The victim’s wife feels that no proper inquiries have been conducted, and there is an attempt to hush-up the incident.
SUGGESTED ACTION

Please write to the prime minister, the inspector general of police (IGP), the attorney general and the secretary of the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in order to urge them to take investigation into this tragic incident. Also send copies of your letter to the minister of health and the special repporteur of UN.

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