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SRI LANKA: Torture by pouring boiling water on the victim's genitals by the officers of the Matale Police Station in Kandy

January 26, 2004

 

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

26 January 2004
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UA-07-2004: SRI LANKA: Torture by pouring boiling water on the victim's genitals by the officers of the Matale Police Station in Kandy

SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and detention; Torture
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Dear friends

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned of brutal torture of Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, 32, at the Matale Police Station. The officers poured boiling water on his genitals that caused severe burnt wounds. The victim was arbitrarily arrested and tortured by the police only because he was rude to a 'Gramaarakshaka (village security officer)' during the argument with him. In particular, after he was released, the police have kept visiting the victim's house to check whether he took any legal steps regarding the incident and he fears of his safety.

AHRC urge you to send a letter to the local authorities requesting them to thoroughly investigate this matter, punish the perpetrators and ensure the victim's safety.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Click the image to enlarge

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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, 32, Self-employed (runs a poultry farm), Married with two children aged 12 and 8 years of age.
Address of the victim: 50/1 Ruwanpaya, Ratwatte, Ukuwela
Alleged Perpetrators: The Sub Inspector (SI) Mr. Panannwala and four other officers attached to the Matale Police Station
Date of arbitrary detention and torture: from 5 to 6 January 2004

Case details:

Around 4:00 p.m. on 5 January 2004, the Sub Inspector (SI) Pananwala and other three or four officers from the Matale Police Station came to the house of Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara (the victim) to search for him. The policemen told Saman Priyankara that they wanted to punish him because he was rude to one of their officers. Saman Priyankara had took some argument with a 'Gramaarakshaka (village security officer)' some time before. The policemen pushed Saman Priyankara into the police jeep and took him to the Matale Police Station.

At the police station, the SI Pananwala started to beat him severely and ordered one officer to boil the water in the jug saying that he was going to make sure that the victim would not be able to have a normal sex life anymore. After the water boiled, they poured the boiling water down his right leg from the hip downwards. The victim cried in pain and pleaded with them not to do it. After the victim received severe burnt wounds, the officers gave him some kind of oil to apply on the wounds.

Then, the policemen warned the victim not to report the incident to anyone and not to take any treatment at the hospital. In several torture cases in Sri Lanka, the AHRC has reported that policemen (the perpetrators) have obstructed the victim from receiving medical treatment at the hospital because they are afraid that the medical report would be used as unfavorable evidence against them in court. Saman Priyankara was released from the police station around noon of 6 January 2004. He has been admitted to ward No. 10 - accident ward in the Kandy Hospital.

After he was released, the police have kept visiting Saman Priyankara's house to check whether he took any legal steps regarding the incident. They have already visited his house five times from 6 January until 20 January 2004.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below and express your concern about this serious case.


1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

2. Hon. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436 421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net or counsel@sri.lanka.net

3. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC
Chairman National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 / 691 926
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148

4. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson
National 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

5. Mr. Shavindra Fernando
Senior State Counsel
Torture Perpetrators Investigation Unit
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 327 765
Email: Prsec@visual.lk or savifdo@yahoo.co.uk

6. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: Torture by pouring boiling water on the victim's genetal by the officers of the Matale Police Station in Kandy

Name of the victim: Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, 32, Self-employed (runs a poultry farm), Married with two children aged 12 and 8 years of age.
Address of the victim: 50/1 Ruwanpaya, Ratwatte, Ukuwela
Alleged Perpetrators: The Sub Inspector (SI) Mr. Panannwala and four other officers attached to the Matale Police Station
Date of arbitrary detention and torture: from 5 to 6 January 2004

I am very concerned by the report of the brutal torture of Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, 32, at the Matale Police Station in Kandy on 5 January 2004.

The victim was arbitrarily arrested and tortured by the police only because he was rude to a 'Gramaarakshaka (village security officer)' during the argument with him. The police officers poured boiling water on the victim's genetal that caused severe burnt wounds. In particular, after the victim was released, the police have kept visiting his house to check whether he took any legal steps regarding the incident. They have already visited his house five times from 6 January until 20 January 2004. Under the consequences, I am very much concerned of the victim's safety.

I strongly urge you to order a thorough investigation of this case and bring those responsible persons behind the arrest, torture of a victim before court. The perpetrators should be suspended from their service at the police station during the investigation. I also urge you to ensure the safety of the victim and his family. I further urge you to provide compensation to the victim and to assist victim in accessing full medical treatment. Lastly, I urge to the Sri Lankan government to change this attitude and to take genuine steps to stop the practice of torture by the police.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours


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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-07-2004
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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.