SRI LANKA: Alleged arbitrary arrest and torture of a 16-year-old boy by police in Eheliyagoda

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about an alleged arbitrary arrest and severe torture of a 16-year-old boy by police officers in Eheliyagoda, Sri Lanka. The victim, Kapu Kankanamalage Mahesh Maduranga, was severely beaten by police officers in order to force him to confess to the theft of a cassette from his neighbour, but the victim denied such involvement. Later on he was taken to Eheliyagoda police station and detained there for 8 hours being hand cuffed and not allowed to use a bathroom. Threats against the victim continued after he was released from the police station and there was an alleged attempted abduction while he was hospitalized for treatment of his injuries. The victim’s family has not reported about the attempted abduction to the police because they are afraid of receiving more threats from officers.

CASE DETAILS:

According to the information we received, the incident started when the police officer Abeygunawardena (other name not known) came to the house of Kapu Kankanamalage Mahesh Maduranga (16) to search him at around 11:00 am and 12:00 pm on 17 January 2007. The police officer, Abeygunawardena, accompanied by another officer came to the victim’s house by car and found only Mahesh’s mother at home. They told the mother to tell her son to come to the Eheliyagoda police station at 4:00 pm the next day (18 January 2007), but did not explain the reason for their request.

Later on the same day at around 10:00 pm, the two police officers came to the house again searching Mahesh Maduranga with one of his neighbours, Dushmantha. The father of Mahesh Maduranga opened the door for them. As the door was opened, they came into the house and found Mahesh Maduranga who was sleeping at that time. They started to shout at him using foul language and told him to get up, otherwise they would kick him. Then they handcuffed him and took him out of the house.

In front of the house, they broke a thick branch from a tree and used it for beating Mahesh Maduranga, accusing him of stealing a cassette from Dushmantha’s car the other day and forced him to confess to the theft. The two officers did not stop beating Mahesh Maduranga despite of his and his father’s pleas. On the contrary, they hit Mahesh Maduranga’s father with a gun and pushed him aside from the site where his son has been assaulted. The officer Abeygunawardena beat the victim with the stick until it was broken and he tried to impale Mahesh’s fingers with a part of the stick. Due to this brutal violence, Mahesh has lost the use of the little finger of his left hand.

After they beat Mahesh, they brought him into Dushmantha’s three wheeler car and brought him to the which belongs to a person called Mallawarachchi. The two officers forced the victim to admit to the robbery of a cassette tape in front of this person and started to beat him with the stick again. Despite such outrageous violence, the victim kept denying the involvement in the robbery of the cassette tape and he was brought to the police station at around 11:30 pm that night. 
At the police station, his hands were cuffed and he was kept under police custody there until the following morning. While he was in custody, police officers ignored his request to use the toilet for until one of them brought him to the toilet a few hours later.

On the next morning, when the father of the victim visited the police station, he saw his neighbour Dushmantha at there and asked him not let his son be beaten by police officers again. Then Dushmantha talked to one of the police officers and later on the victim was released and told to come back to the police station on designated date. The father and the victim went back to the police station on the said date and were told by the police officer Abeygunawardena that Mahesh has to pay the same amount of money for the stolen cassette since he was under suspicion of having stolen it. The victim and his father refused to pay for it and again denied the victim’s involvement in the robbery. The officer then said that the case would be brought to the court later on.

The victim had sustained severe back pains and head ache due to severe torture he received at the hands of the police officer. He was brought to the Eheliyagoda Hospital and admitted to ward 5 on 8 February 2007. He received a medical examination from the District Medial Officer due to the report that the victim’s father made at the hospital that his son’s injury was due to torture by police officers. The statement on torture was also made by the hospital police.

The victim was discharged from the hospital on February 13, however he returned to the hospital again on February 14 because his condition became worse. On February 15, the victim’s neighbour Dushmantha and another person called Sumith allegedly attempted to abduct the victim from the hospital but failed because of the intervention of the hospital staff. The victim and his father wanted to report this attempted abduction but did not because they are afraid of going to the police station.

The victim and his father are seeking a legal remedy including a thorough investigation into his case of being severely assaulted, arbitrarily arrested, detained and treated inhumanly by the two police officers from the Eheliyagoda police station for the reason of robbery which the victim did not commit.

The AHRC condemns the brutal violence and mistreatment of Mahesh Maduranga by the police officers from the Eheliyagoda police station in light of the principles of international human rights instruments and from the perspective of respecting human dignity. As the Sri Lankan government is party to the several important international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which enshrine the prohibition of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention as well as protection of citizens from such inhuman treatments in accordance with domestic procedures. Also the violent assault and violation of other rights of a victim who is under eighteen years old that is defined as a child under the CRC needs to be accused in accordance with particular concerns.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The family of the victim has sent a written complaint to the several authorities including the Chairman of National Police Commission, Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Legal Division and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Ratnapura district.

As far as the AHRC knows, according to the gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka No. 1480/8, the National Police Commission introduced rules regarding the individual complaint against the brutal actions of police authorities including violent assaults, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention which was issued on January 17, that the police authority should complete the investigation into the reported case of police brutality against civilians especially the acts fall in violation of human rights, allegations of torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as well as fabrications of cases within thirty days from the receipt of complaint.

This newly introduced decree enables the victims who have been violated their rights by police authorities to seek redress including special investigation into the alleged cases of human rights violations made by police officers by reporting complaint to the National Police Commission and its regional offices. The Public Complaints Investigation Division which was established by the National Police Commission will deal with the complaints against the violation of rights by the police officers ranked at whatever levels.

According to the information we have received from our reliable source, the complaint against the two police officers who tortured and arbitrarily arrested the victim have already been submitted to the National Police Commission thus the investigation into this case needs to be completed within thirty days of period which is scheduled to be by late March.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities listed below calling for an immediate investigation into this case along with the prosecution of the two police officers without allowing them impunity. The AHRC also urges you to express your concern over the continuing use of torture, arbitrary arrest and illegal detention based on false accusation by the police in Sri Lanka.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER