SRI LANKA: Torture of a woman by the Baddegama police 

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: Torture of a woman by the Baddegama police

Name of victim: M.K. Buddhika, 34-years-old, married; occupation: garment factory worker
Name of alleged perpetrators: The Sub-Inspector, Amarawansa and policeman, Nimantha (reg. no. 18826) attached to the Baddegama police 
Date of incident: 17 February 2006

I am writing to you with deep concern regarding the torture of a woman allegedly by the Baddegama police.

According to the information I have received, on February 16, Ms. Buddhika was at a friend’s house when several of her cousins, namely Sriyani, Malini and Chandrani forced her into the van of a Mr. Sunil. At around 10pm, they took her to the Baddegama police station and handed her over to Sub-Inspector (SI) Amarawansa, loudly announcing, “We brought you the rogue”.

SI Amarawansa and another policeman (reg. no. 18826) began hitting Ms. Buddhika about the head and face and demanded, “Where are the goods?” The force of the blow was so strong that Ms. Buddhika fell to the ground. She pleaded with the policemen not to assault her and informed them that she was recovering from surgery and had not stolen anything. However, the policemen replied that they did not care whether she died or not and continued to kick her abdomen. Unable to bear the pain, the victim became unconscious. Later when she awoke, she noticed that she was bleeding from her mouth and one of her teeth had broken. The victim further stated that her cousins and Mr. Sunil were present while she was being tortured.

The victim spent the night in police custody. The next morning, the police again interrogated the victim as to whether she stole certain items, but when she denied the allegation, they recorded her statement. Later she said policeman no.18826, Nimantha and a Woman Police Constable (WPC) accompanied her to the Remand Prison in Galle.

The victim informed the prison authorities that the police had tortured her and that she was in severe pain. They afforded her medicine from the prison hospital. On February 20, the victim was produced before court and released on bail. Unfortunately, as her family members were still unaware of her imprisonment, no one was present to sign her bail bond, and thus she was re-remanded. At the remand prison she was able to inform her parents via another detainee who was leaving prison. Consequently, on March 13, her uncle visited the prison and secured her release on bail on March 15.

The victim has since complained that she is suffering from frequent headaches and bleeding and infection from her surgical wound. She was initially unable to receive hospital treatment owing to a strike, but later with the help of a private doctor received medical attention.

Owing to this, I am asking for your intervention. I ask that you ensure an immediate investigation into this matter and that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted, if found guilty, as soon as possible. As public officers their conduct must be subjected to the provisions of the Convention Against Torture Act No 22 of 1994 which states a minimum seven year sentence for torture conviction. I also ask you to suspend or transfer the alleged perpetrators from their service while the investigation is underway and provide adequate compensation to the victim.

The charges laid against the victim must be made public and an investigation launched into the legitimacy of these given that the victim denied allegations of theft and was not found to have any stolen goods in her possession. If it is established that the charges against her were fabricated, then they must be withdrawn immediately, and again legal action must be taken against those responsible.

Lastly, the role of the victim’s cousins and Mr. Sunil into the victim’s arrest must be established and if it is found that they committed crimes during this process, then legal action must likewise be launched against them.

I trust your intervention will be forthcoming.

Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan 
Attorney General 
Attorney General's Department 
Colombo 12 
SRI LANKA 
Fax: +94 11 2 436421

2. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police (IGP) 
New Secretariat 
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA 
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877

3. Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka 
No. 36, Kynsey Road 
Colombo 8 
SRI LANKA 
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806 
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470 
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk 

4. Mr. J Thangawelu
DIG Legal
Police Headquarters
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: 94 11 2381 394
Email: legaldiv@police.lk

5. National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310 
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk

6. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President 
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657 (this is contact for Secretary to President)  
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

7. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed 
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (general)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org

8. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Attn: Mr Miguel de la Lama
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)
Email: mdelalama@ohchr.org

9. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
c/o Ms Vernonica Birga
Room 3-042
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9615
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)
Email: vbirga@ohchr.org (please also cc: rrico@ohchr.org)

Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)