SRI LANKA: Two separate torture cases of two young boys aged 15 and 17 by the police 

SRI LANKA: Widespread practice of torture; cruel and inhumane treatment and torture by the police

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– Name of the victims: Anuruddha Kusum Kumara (15) and Bambarende Gamage Suraj Prasanna (17)

– Perpetrators: Officers of Wellawa police station and Matugama police station

CASES DETAILS

Case 1: Cruel and inhumane treatment to a 15-year-old student

Anuruddha Kusum Kumara, 15, residing at the village by the name Thombuwa, Kumbukgate of the Wellawa police division of the Kurunegala District, was asked to present himself at the Wellawa police station by 10:00 in the morning of 29th December 2002. He then goes to the police station accompanied by his uncle and father.

On arrival, the inspector of the Crimes Section who was wearing civvies, chased the father with the request to stay beyond the rail road, hits Anuruddha Kusum Kumara in front of his uncle, makes him naked and orders him to the detention cell. Then inside the cell, he was beaten up with the back of a stem of a coconut branch till it was broken into pieces. Then a steel spike was drilled into the buttocks, which were then filled with chili powder and while he was yelling in pain, the inspector of the Crimes Section closed door of the cell, called the uncle and ordered him to bring the mother of the Anuruddha Kusum Kumara to the police station.

The boy was then handed over to be taken home. It was around 6:00 in the afternoon. In the same night, Anuruddha Kusum Kumara, who by then was seriously injured, was taken and admitted to the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital. He was warded there and received treatment from Jan. 1, 2003 to Jan. 3, 2003. A statement has been recorded by the hospital police. It is also understood that the judicial medical officer has conducted the diagnosis of Anuruddha Kusum Kumara.

Case 2: Serious tortures and threat of life to a 17-year-old young man

The sub-inspector, Romiyal of the Matugama police station together with another officer, enters the house of Bambarende Gamage Suraj Prasanna and arrests him on Jan. 8, 2003 at about 1:00 in the afternoon. Since the arrest, the sub-inspector Romiyal has been hitting him in the face and asking him whether he was the one that stole the money from the temple till.

The police officer then removes the tee-shirt that Bambarende Gamage Suraj Prasanna was wearing to tie his hands at the back, drags him along the road while beating and then dumps him in the Dolphine van bearing the number 56-5183 and takes him to the Matugama police station. After putting him in the cell, the sub-inspector gets hold of his hair and beats his face against the iron bars of the cell. A number of other officers took turns to hit his face against the iron bars in the cell by holding him with his hair. About 4:00 in the afternoon Bambarende Gamage Suraj Prasanna was taken out of the cell and was made to crawl on his knees for fifteen minutes. While crawling on his knees, he was beaten by hand and foot by sub-inspector Romiyal and was asked to kneel and worship the other police officers by holding their feet.

After meting out this torture, he was released at about 4:30 in the afternoon with the strict warning that he returns home only after dusk and that if he returns home earlier than that, he would be killed. Through fear, he was absconding himself near a shop till about 8:00 at night and then returned home to narrate the whole incident and got himself admitted to the Wattawe government hospital. After receiving treatment from the hospital till Jan. 10, 2003, he got himself admitted to the Nagoda General Hospital where he continues to receive treatment to this day.

SUGGESTED ACTION

Please send your urgent appeals to the Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Police Commission, Attorney General, Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Sri Lanka, urging them to take prompt investigations into these cases and to punish the perpetrators.

 

 

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