SRI LANKA: Severe torture of a 26-year-old man mistakenly arrested by the Gokarella police 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source that a man, Manoj Thalis (26), was severely tortured by policemen attached to the Gokarella police station on 24 September 2005. Police arrested Manoj whom they accused of being an accomplice of a man they earlier arrested for murder, but later discovered that the arrest was a mistake.

While under custodial investigation, Manoj was severely tortured by four of the policemen, namely Sub Inspector (SI) Ellepola, Inspector of the Police (IP) Hiriyadeniya and Police Constables (PC) Rathnasiri and Ajith. It was reported that Manoj’s hands were tied behind his back with an iron rod inserted in between his arms and knees, his body was rubbed with a balm ointment (Siddhalepa), they inserted an S-lon pipe into his anus and repeatedly smashed his head on a cement floor.

Several hours after detaining Manoj, the policemen released him and apologised for wrongly arresting, detaining and torturing him. After his release, Manoj has been repeatedly confined at the Kurunegala teaching hospital for medical treatment.

Manoj has already made a complaint against the perpetrators. The policemen involved however have continued to pressure him to withdraw his complaint. It was reported that no serious action has been taken so far to prosecute the alleged perpetrators under the CAT Act No.22 of 1994 of Sri Lanka.

We request your urgent action asking the Inspector General of the Police (IGP) to order the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to immediately commence its investigation into Manoj’s case. If it is found that the alleged perpetrators committed such acts, they must be indicted under the CAT Act.

Please also request the National Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka to take appropriate steps on Manoj’s case. The HRC must also take action to ensure that the victim is indemnified and rehabilitated. With the continued practice of police torture in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government, in particular the HRC must take serious action to prevent such incident from occurring further.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Victim: Manoj Thalis (26), unmarried; Occupation – businessman, owner of ‘Leslie Iron Works’, Uduwela, Ibbagamuwa (Kurunegala District).
Alleged Perpetrators: Officer-in-Charge, Sub Inspector Nayanananda, Inspector of Police
Hiriyadeniya, Sub Inspector Ellepola, Police Constable Rathnasiri, Police Constable Ajith and others of the Gokarella police station
Date of incident: 24 September 2005

Case details:

On 24 September 2005, at around 9:15pm Manoj Thalis was having his dinner when policemen entered his home from the back door. He says he recognised them because they had visited his workplace before. The policemen told him, “We are from the police. Come with us to the police station”. They handcuffed him and escorted him to a Mazda car outside. Manoj said he was not informed of the reason for his arrest.

They took him to his workshop and told him to start his lorry. But he was unable to, because he was handcuffed. Then the policemen started the lorry, shoved him back into their car and proceeded to the Gokarella police station. During the journey he claimed they abused him in extremely obscene language. They arrived at the police station where he was locked-up in a cell at around 10:15-10:30pm. There was another person inside the cell and pointing to him SI Ellepola asked Manoj whether he knew the man. When the victim denied knowing the man, the policeman shouted, “Why you pariah (bastard), you committed the murder with him; so now why can’t you recognize him?”  SI Ellepola also threatened him, “I will break your teeth; I will hold electric current on you; I will break your limbs”

Subsequently, at about 1:30am the next morning, two policemen took him out of the holding cell, escorted him to the office of the OIC, Crimes Division and closed the door. Inside the said office, he saw SIs Ellepola, Nayanananda, IP Hiriyadeniya and the other policemen. The victim was told they had evidence he committed the crime of murder and that he must confess. The victim replied, he had no need to commit murder for money. At this, SI Ellepola slapped him and IP Hiriyadeniya hit him on his face. Then, the two policemen took turns torturing him – all the while scolding him in obscene language. During the torture, the door opened and PC Rathnasiri and PC Ajith entered the room.

The policemen proceeded to remove Manoj’s clothes and ordered him to kneel on the floor. They tied his hands together and inserted an iron rod between his arms and his knees. Two policemen lifted the iron rod with the victim dangling on it and placed the two ends between two tables. They kicked him on his back several times and abused him. Then Hiriyadeniya and Nayanananda sat on the tables on either side of the victim and said “are you going to hand over the money and the cheques you stole? We already have proof that you are a murderer” Simultaneously, Ellepola brutally assaulted the victim –who was hanging on the iron rod — on his legs and soles of his feet. This is the position in which Manoj was tortured. This position is also known as “dharma chakraya’.

Thus, the policemen continued to question him and assault him. One policeman queried, “Do you want to die in one month or two months or six months? How would you want to suffer before your death – we have any method you desire.” They also threatened to immerse his head in water. The victim was continually beaten. He also says as part of his torture the policemen rubbed Siddhalepa (a balm ointment) all over his body and also inserted an S-lon pipe into his anus.

Thereafter the victim was removed from the pole and kicked all over his body by Ellepola who also took hold of the victim’s head and smashed it several times on the cement floor. They tied his face with a large black cloth and hung him again on the pole. Thus, he was tortured for about 45 minutes. Once again they applied the balm ointment on his body, pricked under his nails and inserted a PVC pipe into his anus. According to the victim, the pain was excruciating. He was taken down from the pole. When he asked for some water they gave him a few drops from a bottle. Then Ellepola threatened him, “get up you pariah, get up and walk. We have not finished with you – we are going to finish what is left of you”.

About 4:00am he was given his clothes and locked up in a cell. Around 5:30am he was once again taken to the OIC who asked him how he was feeling. At the time the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) arrived and asked who the victim was. The OIC said he was connected with a murder. At the time he had also seen his mother and brother at the station. The victim was ordered to go to the cell while his relatives were asked to step outside the station. The victim was locked up again at around 7:00am.

Nayanananda had told the victim, “You are a good boy doing a good business. We are now going to release you and take you home.” Then they took him to the Crimes Division to record his statement. There, all the policemen who tortured him the previous night were present. They said, “We committed a grave mistake by you last night. Do forgive us a hundred times. We will give you a party tomorrow. We will give you the money to obtain treatment for your wounds. We will also take you home in our vehicle.” They then obtained his statement and together with his relatives, took him home.

But because of the unbearable pain in his body, Manoj was taken by his family to a private hospital. The doctor there advised him to visit a larger hospital. So the next day he went to the Kurunegala teaching hospital and was admitted as an in-patient in ward 35. He was treated for two days. However, when he returned home, his condition worsened so he was once again hospitalised. He was told that his ear drum had been ruptured as a result of the police torture.

The victim has since complained that the Gokarella police are now continuously pressuring him to withdraw his complaint against them.

Prior to Manoj’s arrest, it was reported that on 19 September 2005, a young woman, Rathnamali, was robbed and killed in Kurunegala. The police arrested him in connection to the said crime, despite having no evidence against him. Later he said the police allegedly colluded with the state-run TV Channel ‘Rupavahini’ to highlight the incident on their programme ‘Angili salakunu’ (‘Fingerprints’) where he had been implicated as the culprit.

Manoj is adamant that the programme was produced at the instigation of and as a result of the false information supplied by the Gokarella police who no doubt wanted the credit for solving the crime as well as weaken any chances he may have of obtaining legal redress for the gross injustice perpetrated upon him. To date the case remains unresolved.

 

 

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