SRI LANKA: Assault and fabrication of charges against a minor by police

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Kuruwita police assaulted a boy on the road and forcibly took him, with his brother,  into police custody and later fabricated charges against him in collaboration with a Judicial Medical Officer on 31 August 2008.

CASE DETAILS: (based on the testimony of Liyanage Buddhika Mahesh and his mother Don Theverepperuma Leelawathi)

On 31 August 2008, while Buddhika Mahesh, 17 years old, was at home, he was informed by his neighbor, Amitha, that his elder brother, Chamila Jeevantha was involved in a brawl at the Kuruwita bus stop. Chamila was returning home after a party. Upon hearing this, Buddhika went to the spot with his younger brother Isuru and managed to get his brother out of the fight. On their way home, they met their mother, Don Theverepperuma Leelawathi.

At 5:30pm while they were walking home, a jeep from the Kuruwita Police Station came and stopped them near Kuruwita Lorry Park. One officer named Sunil got out of the jeep and two traffic motorcycle police dismounted. Without warning the traffic officer broke a pole off a fence and started to assault Buddhika, making him sit on the ground while continuing to beat him. The mother begged the officer to stop the beating. She said her son had done nothing wrong but simply had gone to bring his brother home from the bus stop. Buddhika also tried to explain his innocence to the officers. However, the police would not listen. They continued the assault. A crowd gathered and was allowed to watch the scene.

Then, officer Sunil pushed Buddhika into the jeep. While the mother pleaded with them not to take her son, the officer forcibly pushed her away so that she fell down into a pool of mud on the road.  He then dragged Chamila and put him in the jeep too. There were about four officers in the jeep which had its own driver. They left without giving any reason for the arrest.

The mother followed the jeep to the Kuruwita Police Station where she was told by officer Sunil that the boys had to be tested to see if they were drunk. Chamila and Buddka were then taken to the Ratnapura General Hospital, where officer Sunil asked a hospital aid where a certain doctor was at this time. He was told that the doctor was at a private clinic in Pelmadulla. Officer Sunil then called the doctor on his mobile phone and told the other officer that the doctor would be in Palmadulla until 10pm.

At this point, the boys were taken to Palmadulla to a private dispensary called ‘Instant Medicare’, located on No 34, Main Street. They met Doctor Kamal Pattiyawattege, register No18137 in the Medical Council, the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Ratnapura General Hospital. Officer Sunil met with the doctor first and later sent the boys in individually to be examined by him.

Dr. Kamal Pattiyawattege asked Buddhika how much he had drunk and Buddhika replied that he had not drunk anything but that he had been assaulted and taken into custody when he was bringing his brother back from the bus stop. Then, the doctor wrote up his notes. The boys were taken back to the jeep and officer Sunil again met the doctor, Sunil coming out of the room carrying a piece of paper. Then, the boys were taken back to the police station and put in a cell at about 10pm.

The mother was told to bring a fresh set of clothes. While the mother was absent, the boys were taken out of the cell and forced by officer Sunil to sign under something written in a book. Buddhika asked that he be allowed to read what was written but was refused. At 11:45pm, the boys were released on bail and told to appear in the Ratnapura Magistrate’s Court on September 4. 

They appeared in court and were charged separately with being drunk and disorderly behaviour. Even though the mother paid Rs. 500/= (around USD 4.6) to the lawyer Kithsiri Arabagethara to appear in court on behalf of her two sons, the lawyer did not appear. The court asked Buddhika if he pleaded guilty or not. He was not given a chance to answer because the police officers dragged him out of the witness box in the presence of the judge. However, it was recorded that Buddhika pleaded guilty. Both boys were each fined Rs. 2,500/= (around USD 23.)

On September 11, Buddhika sent a written complaint to the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, National Police Commission, Inspector General of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police Ratnapura and Secretary of the Bar Association and Medical Council.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Besides torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, another area of concern in Sri Lanka is fabrication of charges against an arrested or detained person. This is a common practice of the police. It has been widely used by the police to justify the initial arrest and/or continued detention of a person, including preventing release on bail or securing a conviction. The cases of Aravinda (please refer to AHRC-UAC-172-2008) and Naidos (please refer to AHRC-STM-210-2008, AHRC-STM-209-2008) are recent examples clearly demonstrating this practice.

The case of Sarath Kumara shows that fabrication of charges had been used in which senior police officers, involved in ill-treatment, played a leading role in lodging a false medical report against him (Please also see AHRC-UAC-211-2008).

The cases of Buddhika and Madushani Subasinghe surface two significant matters of concern: that a minor was not exempt from false charges trumped up by the police and that their parents and legal representatives were never present during the aggressive investigative process (AHRC-UAC-226-2008).

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below urging them to investigate this case.

The AHRC has also written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture calling for intervention in this case.

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