SRI LANKA: A young man is subjected to attacks and abduction attempts by a wealthy businessman and the Ja-Ela police ignore his complaints

Dear friends, 

Mr. D.K.K.S. Shehan Fernando, a young man of 22, is in danger of losing his life due to the actions of a wealthy businessman in the Ja-Ela area The officers of the Ja-Ela Police Station are refusing to investigate the victim’s allegations while at the same time aiding the perpetrator of the several physical attacks and attempts at abduction. The entire matter is the result of a misunderstanding and the violence perpetrated by the businessman, to which the police are turning a blind eye, is completely out of proportion to the young man’s alleged offense. This is yet another example of how the Sri Lankan police assist the elite and criminal elements instead of the innocent victims. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

Twenty two-year-old Diyaththara Kalutara Kalusayakkarage Sajith Shehan Fernando of No. 22 St. Mary’s Road Ja-Ela has complained that his life is under severe threat due to a powerful businessman aided by some police officers pursuing him with white vans to abduct him and also by using criminal elements to severely assault him which, in his view is with the intention of killing him. 

On 25 May 2011, Shehan went to a shop, Wasantha Motors, to buy spare parts for his motorcycle. A person at the shop told him that they were closed and therefore they would not sell the parts that he required. However, at the time the doors of the shop were still open and Shehan explained that since he was going to work the next day could they please consider selling him the spare parts he required. Then two persons in the shop shouted, “Do you not understand what we told you?” Without warning they started to assault him. A third person, the owner of the shop, alighted from a nearby car and asked what was happening. He also struck Shehan who then ran away. 

The next day he went to his job and his brother went to the shop to get the spare parts. His brother was detained in the shop and an uncle, Roshan, had to go to the shop and rescue him. On the same day a group of persons arrived in a white van at Shehan’s house and inquired as to his whereabouts from his mother. His mother in turn inquired as to why they were looking for Shehan and they replied that the director of Wasantha Motors was taking treatment at the Intensive Care Unit because Shehan pushed him, causing him to strike his head on some concrete. On the evening of the same day (26th), another group of people arrived at the house and threatened Shehan’s mother who then made a complaint to the Ja-Ela police the same night. 

On the 7 June 2011, the Officer-in-Charge of the Ja-Ela Police Station made a telephone call to Shehan’s mother asking her to come to the police station at 9 am the following day to inquire into her complaint. When she arrived at that time she was detained at the station until 7 pm. During this detention two persons whom she believed to be criminals arrived at the police station. On the instructions of the OIC of the station the OIC of the Petty Offenses Section recorded that her complaint had been brought to a settlement and forced the mother to sign it. Thereafter, the two other persons were sent away but Shehan’s mother was kept at the station until Shehan would be presented. After detaining her that night a case was filed against her in the Magistrate’s Court of Kanuwana for harbouring a criminal, meaning her son, Shehan. 

Five days later Shehan’s Uncle Roshan who had earlier rescued his younger brother, was also charged at the same Magistrate’s Court for making death threats. The case is still pending before the court. Shehan believes that this charge was filed as an act of revenge against his uncle for intervening on his behalf. Thereafter, as the police were looking for Shehan he surrendered himself to court. Regarding this there is a case pending against him until now. 

On 9 August 2011, when Shehan was going to work a group of people came in a van with tinted windows and tried to kidnap him but he managed to escape and run away. Shehan complained about this matter through the Emergency Hotline of the Police Department, 119, and this is recorded in the CID ii at page 390/127. In that complaint the vehicle number is given as WPGX 9511. The Ja-Ela police did not conduct any investigation into this complaint. A further complaint was made at the Peliyagoda Police Station on 11 August 2011. Regarding this complaint also there has been no investigation. 

On 29 August at around 5:15 pm when he was walking to a bus to return home after work five persons who arrived in a LandCruiser that did not have a license plate attacked Shehan, striking him on his hands and legs with iron poles. As they were attacking him Shehan managed to run back into his workshop. From there he was taken in a vehicle belonging to the workshop to a nearby hospital and from there he was transferred to the Ragama Hospital. A complaint regarding this matter was made on the same day to the Seduwa Police Station and the incident was also reported to the OIC of the Ja-Ela Police Station. However, once again, no action was taken in this complaint also. 

Due to a coordinated action of the OIC of Ja-Ela Police Station and a millionaire businessman, Shehan complains that his life is under threat. The OIC, according to Shehan, is working hand in glove with this businessman. Shehan believes that the owner of the LandCruiser that delivered the five persons who attacked him belongs to the same businessman. Shehan further complains that the OIC is protecting the criminals and is making fabricated charges against him and his relatives instead. 

Shehan has informed the matter to human rights organisations and requested them to intervene in order to protect his life. Shehan further states that it he arrested by the Ja-Ela police he will certainly be torture at the instructions of the businessman. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

The Asian Human Rights Commission has reported innumerable cases of how the Sri Lankan police take action in favour of the elite and wealthy to the detriment of the innocent. 

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 death threats and the denial of investigations by the Ja-Ela police. 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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