SRI LANKA: An innocent man was illegally arrested, tortured and laid with a fabricated charge 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Kanahipadi Kankanamge Nalin (29) of Dodamgo, Kaluthara is married and a businessman by profession. He was arrested illegally and severely tortured before being laid with a fabricated charge by officers of the Dodangoda Police Station as he had complained about an officer who was harassing him and his young wife. The complaint resulted in the officer’s transfer and it is believed that the arrest and torture was done in revenge.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. Kanahipadi Kankanamge Nalin (29) of Dodamgo, Kaluthara is married and a businessman by profession. On 20 November 2011 Nalin went to see the newly opened expressway from Colombo to Galle. He went with his wife, Ms. Wickramasinghe Kankanamge Nadika Lakmali (26), one of his drivers Kalu Malli and the driver’s daughter. They went by a Tipper numbered, WP 484959 belonging to Nalin.
After seen the road while they were on their way home the child wanted to eat an ice cream so the vehicle was stopped in front of the Gurukanda Restaurant near the Thudugala Junction. Then the driver went with his daughter to buy the ice cream while Nalin and his wife waiting at the vehicle.

Two police officers who were in uniform approached them and ordered them to remove the vehicle from that place as it was in front of the restaurant. Nalin told the officers that as the driver went into the restaurant he needed to wait for him to return. Then the police officers later identified Kamalasiri and Wickramasinghe attached to the Dodangoda Police Station in Kalutara, dragged Nalin out of the vehicle and started to beat him with. Then Nalin’s wife Nadika came to the officers and pleaded with them not to assault her husband but the officers continued to assault him. Nalin suffered a hemorrhage due to the beating. Another group of police officers who had been notified by the first officers approached by a three wheeler and they also beat Nalin. Then they dragged Nalin into the three-wheeler and brought him to the Dodangoda Police Station.

At the police station the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the station came to him and told him “I waited till you were brought to me”. Then the officers brought Nalin to the Traffic Branch of the police compound and there also he was assaulted. Nalin identified Sub Inspector (SI) Mahinda, Kamalsiri, Ishantha and Civil Defence Force officer Wickramasinghe as some of the officers who assaulted him.

Then Nalin pleaded with the officers to take him for medical treatment as he bleeding heavily. Then the officers brought him to the Wilpatha Rural Hospital. While the doctors were treating him he explained that he was severely tortured by the police officers. The doctor advised the officers to admit him for further treatment. He was admitted but Nalin observed the police officers talking to the doctor in a confidential manner.

During the night several of Nalin’s relatives came to visit him but the police officers who were on watch did not allow them to do so. When Nalin asked for permission for them to visit one of the officers beat Nalin even at the hospital.

On the next morning Nalin was discharge from the hospital despite pleading with the staff not to discharge him as he still suffering severe pain. But the doctor who was on service worked with the police officers and allowed them to take Nalin back to the police station where he was locked in a cell.

Later the OIC called Nalin to his room and then he was threatened with a fabricated charge and prosecution in the High Court. He further threatened him that his throat would be cut and he would not be allowed to live. Then late in the evening he was produced him before the Magistrate of Kalutara. Later Nalin learned that he was charged with obstructing the official duties of the police. Nalin vehemently denies the charge and states that police officers fabricated the charge against him.

Nalin further states that police officers tortured him and filed the fabricated charge against him because as when he was working in South Korea a police officer named Manju, who was attached to the Dodangoda Police Station attempted to have an extramarital affair with his wife which she refused. He further states that after he returned to Sri Lanka and started several businesses police officer Manju started to harass them. He made a complaint to the Police Headquarters and later under the supervision of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), an inquiry which resulted in Manju being transferred to another police station. Later Nalin learned that the OIC stated that he wanted to take revenge on Nalin.

Nalin states that he was illegally arrested, detained, tortured and laid with fabricated charges thereby violating his fundamental rights.

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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