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SRI LANKA: Police allegedly assault minor and fabricate charges

October 10, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-226-2008

10 October 2008
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SRI LANKA: Police allegedly assault minor and fabricate charges

ISSUES: Assault; threats; fabrication of charges; illegal arrest and detention; child rights
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ambalantota police officers assaulted a minor and arbitrarily arrested and detained her and her sister in the custody on 1 September 2008. In the police station, the officers forced them to sign a document which was not explained and put their fingerprints to a bottle of liquor, which has been later used for a case. Due to the assault, the minor had been hospitalized for several days after being released on bail.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on the testimony of Madushani Subasinghe)

On 1 September 2008, Madushani Subasinghe (16) was returning home from her aunt's house at about 7:30pm. Opposite her house, she saw an armed group of officers in civilian clothes. One officer asked her where her parents were. Madushani told them that she was not aware, since she had been at school the whole day.

On response, two officers suddenly assaulted Madushani on her thighs and hands and had kept on threatening and asking her parent's whereabouts. When Madushani tried to avoid the beating by covering herself with the hands she got a severe blow on to her hand and she fainted.

Later on she came to know that one of the officers who had assaulted her was named Banadara. The officers then forced her into the police jeep along with her sister Subadrika Chandrasani Subasinghe and her two children.

As a result of the assault Madushani's both hands got benumbed and she complained of a severe pain in her chest. Madushani was feeling so ill that she had to lie down on her sister's lap. The officers who heard her complaints did not afford her any comfort or medical examination or treatment, they told her that she was making it all up. Madushani, her sister and the two children were then been taken to a room behind Ambalanthota Police Station.

At about 8:30pm, two police officers tied two pieces of wooden rods--a kind of native treatment on to Madushani's hands with a piece of old cloth, thinking that they were broken. At about 8:40 pm an officer brought a woman to stay with them in the room. That night Madushani, her sister and the two children were told to stay in the room till morning. They were not given anything to eat that night and were told not to leave the room.

At about 6am on September 2, Madushani's sister removed the wooden rods from her hands as Madushani's hands were sore and she was in pain. After that officer Bandara had come and asked them why they removed the wooden rods. Then, they were taken out from the room and made to sit on a bench till 4pm.

Meantime, at 1pm, they were forced to sign some papers whose contents were not known to them. Then, Bandara and one sub inspector forced to apply their finger prints on a bottle and a barrel of illicit liquor. They threatened them to oblige and out of fear they did so. Madushani's aunt and the other sister met the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the station. Madushani and her sister were released on bail. They were asked to report to court on September 4. The police also got Madushani's aunt to sign a document saying that Madushani was in good health. They also threatened Madushani's relatives not to speak to anyone with regard to this incident.

At 8pm, Madushani was admitted to Hambanthota General Hospital and received treatment and discharged on September 3. However due to her health condition, she was admitted to Tangalle Hospital again on September 4 where she received treatment for another three days and discharged on September 6. During her hospitalization, the hospital police took a statement from her and Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) examined her.

Madushani and her relatives later got to know that the police filed a false case against her at the Hambanthota Magistrate court stating that she was in possession of illicit liquor.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Besides of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, it is also another area of concern in Sri Lanka where fabrication of charges against an arrested or detained person is common practice by the police. It has widely used by the police to justify the initial arrest and/or continued detention of a person, including preventing that a person is released on bail or secure a conviction against a person. 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 of showing this practice.

The case of Sarath Kumara also shows that fabrication of charges has been used in a case where senior police officer involved in ill treatment played a leading role in making false medical report against Sarath Kumara, junior officer. (Please also see AHRC-UAC-211-2008)

Until the process of false charges, there is no doubt that right to access a lawyer, the right to habeas corpus, the right to free from torture and ill treatment and right to fair trial have been denied.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below urging them to look into this case and to ensure that the offenders if proved guilty are brought to book and the case is dropped.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture calling for an intervention in this matter.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: Police allegedly assault minor and fabricate charges

Name of victims:
1. Ms. Madushani Subasinghe (16); student; resident of No-85/1- Ruhunu Ridiyagama, Bolana, Kadjugahawatte
2. Ms. Subadrika Chandrasani Subasinghe (victim 1's sister)
Name of alleged perpetrators: Ambalantota police including an officer named officer Bandara
Date of incident: 1 September 2008
Place of incident: Ambalantota Police Station, Hambantota Dist. I, Tangalle Division, Southern Range

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding an incident reported on September 1 regarding a 16-year-old school girl who was illegally taken into custody after being assaulted in front of her home by a group of officers attached to the Ambalantota police on September 1.

According to the information that I have received, the minor lost consciousness as a result of the assault and was taken to the station with her sister and sister's two children where no medical treatment had been provided for the minor even though she complained of pain and discomfort in her hands and chest.

I am informed that officers threatened the minor and her sister to sign a document whose contents were not explained and forced them to apply their finger prints on a bottle of liquor with which the officers have later accused them of possession of illicit liquor. I am also informed that the victims were released on bail and the minor had to be hospitalized for six days both in Hambanthota General Hospital and Tangalle Hospital for medical treatment.

I therefore, urge you to investigate this case thoroughly with impartiality so that those officers responsible for assault and fabrication of charges are effectively prosecuted and punished according to law. In this regard, I also urge you to drop the case filed against the minor and her sister with charges of illegal possession of liquor. I finally urge you to provide compensation to the damages by the police assault and arbitrary arrest and detention.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Hemantha Priyasanth Dep
Acting Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk 

2. Mr. Jayantha Wickramaratne
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk

3.  Secretary
Human Rights Commission
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. Secretary
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: npcgen@sltnet.lk

5. Chairperson
National Child Protection Authority
330, Thalawathugoda Road
Madiwela
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 112778912/13/14
Fax: +94 112778975
E-mail: ncpa@childprotection.gov.lk
 
Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-226-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.