Right to fair trial

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Khalishpur police of the Khulna Metropolitan city has gouged eyes of a detainee for failing to pay bribe. The victim, Mr. Mohammad Shah Jalal (Jibon). The Khalishpur police arrested him from the street near Boalkhali of the Khulna city when he went […]

උප පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක සරත් ප්රේtමචන්ද්රහගේ මරණය කෆ්කානු කතාවකි. එම්. ඉලන්චේලියන් විනිසුරු, ගතවූ දශක කිහිපය තුළ ශ්රීක ලංකාවෙන් බිහිවූ ශ්රේරෂ්ඨතම විනිසුරුවරයෙකි. තවමත් මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයෙක් වුවද, ඔහු උපරිමාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයෙකු වීමට වුව සුදුසු අයෙකි. එය එසේ වූවා නම් ඔහු උපරිමාධිකරණයේ ශ්රේධෂ්ඨ වත්කමක් වනවා පමණක් නොව ශ්රීු ලංකාවේ නීතිය හා සාමය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පවතින සතුට නූපදවන තත්ත්වය රැඩිකල් වෙනසකට භාජනය […]

Justice M. Ilancheliyan is one of the greatest judges to be produced in Sri Lanka for the last many decades. He is still a High Court Judge, but he deserves to be raised to the Supreme Court. If that were to happen, he would be a great asset not only to the Supreme Court, but […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner in Papua about the torture of Albert Nawipa (15), a junior high school student. Nawipa was illegally taken by the police and brought to a police station near Potikelek market in Wamena. The police accused him of attacking a dancing […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the recent spate of attacks on the Hazara community in Balochistan province. In the most recent incident, four family members belonging to the ethnic Hazara Shia community and their driver were shot dead on July 19, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle near Balochistan’s Mastung […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court passed a historic judgment last Friday, ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe into the allegations of ‘fake encounters’ by uniformed personnel in the conflict ridden state of Manipur. To ensure an impartial investigation, the Court ordered that no member of the Manipur […]

DIG Lalith A Jayasinghe was arrested and is now being remanded for harbouring an offender and aiding the escape of the chief suspect Swiss Kumar, for the gang rape and the murder of 18 year old Sivaloganathan Vidya on 13 May 2015. The DIG is suspected of having committed an offence punishable under Section 209 […]

An interview with J.C. Weliamuna, President’s Counsel, Eisenhower Fellow, former Member of the Transparency International Global Board, and Constitutional Law practitioner in Supreme Court for over 28 years, in an interview with the Daily FT shares a frank inside view into the status of the Judicial organ of the State today forwarded by the Asian […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court’s Joint Investigation Team. The team found the Sharif family wealth to be beyond their sources of income. The country’s political parties and Bar Associations are now demanding Sharif’s resignation. Moving to Burma, the […]

“Fr. Nandana Manatunga tortured the victim…” claims President’s Counsel, Mr. Nalin Ladduwahetty in his defence of a police constable in a torture case. The case of torture of Mr. Daundalage Pushpakumara came up today at the Court of Appeal in Sri Lanka. The court was considering a petition filed by Pushpakumara, seeking leave to appeal in […]

An article from The Times of India Blogs forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Pehlu Khan, a Muslim, was lynched by Hindu criminals, professing to be cow vigilantes. The incident fills one with grief and anger. Around the same time, Farook, a Muslim atheist in Coimbatore, was lynched by Muslim criminals, claiming to be […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), a human rights organization in East Kalimantan province, about a teenager drowning in a mining hole left by the Gunung Bayan Pratama Coal Company. Reluctant to investigate the case, the local police have argued that the death falls within […]

On 17 February 2017, in Kerala, a criminal gang abducted and sexually assaulted an actress. The lady was travelling in a car, when a group of persons brought the car to a stop creating an accident, and forced themselves into the vehicle in which the lady was travelling. It is alleged that the men sexually […]

A video has recently surfaced in Pakistan, where a contingent of police officers can be seen baton charging a group of unarmed women mill workers protesting in Muzaffargarh, Punjab. The scuffle occurred inside the district court of Muzaffargarh in broad daylight, yet the judicial officer never took any action against the erring police officers, nor […]

For the past several years, the Asian Human Rights Commission has been reporting on the widespread practice of abuse of power by the Nepal Police. The extent of abuse of power and politicization within the police today is such that even senior police officers are targeted. On 24 April 2017, a team of police officers […]

Referring to the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Mr. Tomin J. Thachankary, the former State Police Chief, Mr. Senkumar, has said that this officer is a butcher stationed at the state police headquarters. Allegations against Thachankary, one of the senior most officers in service in the state, is nothing new. The only difference this […]

A letter by Lakshan Dias (Attorney at law) sent to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 29.06.2017 Mr. Amal Randeniya Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Mihindu Mawatha Colombo -12 Dear Mr. Randeniya Thank you for your emailed letter dated 25th June 2017. As a preliminary […]

A Study on the use of torture as a routine part of criminal investigations in developing countries; lessons from the situation in Sri Lanka Basil Fernando The Asian Human Rights Commission is happy to present its latest publication which is now available in print and as an e-book. The book is based on over 20 […]

This week Just Asia focuses on the situation of torture in Asia, in commemoration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Beginning with Pakistan, the UN Committee Against Torture has condemned the widespread practice of torture in the country and called on the government to enact urgent reforms. The government however, is […]

The State Police Chief in the Indian state of Kerala, has openly said that “there are more criminals in the state police service in the IPS cadre than within the constabulary.” State Police Chief, (SPC) Mr. Senkumar, in a speech delivered in a public function held at the state capital today (30 June 2017) has made this […]