Home / News / Urgent Appeals / SRI LANKA: Another child tortured by the police; children's rights abused
 

SRI LANKA: Another child tortured by the police; children's rights abused

July 18, 2002

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION
<br>

<br>
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM
<br>

<br>
19 July 2002
<br>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>
UA-31-2002: Torture of a sixteen-year-old school child
<br>

<br>
SRI LANKA: Another child tortured by the police; children's rights abused
<br>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>

<br>
- Name of the Victim: V. G. G. Chaminda Premalal, (16 years old) - a Grade 11 student, Vilayaya Mahavidyalaya [High School], Polonnaruwa
<br>
- Date of the Incident: July 9 and 10, 2002
<br>
- Address: No. 65, Gamunu Pura, Devagala, Polonnaruwa
<br>
- Perpetrators: Several officers of the Aralaganvila police station in Polonnaruwa
<br>

<br>
CASE DETAILS
<br>

<br>
V. G. G. Chaminda Premalal was arrested by several Aralaganvila police officers while he was at home. The arrest took place on July 9, 2002, at about 7:40 p.m. The arresting officers said that Chaminda Premalal was taken for questioning for several theft cases. At the police station, he was told that he was responsible for breaking into a hair salon and some houses in the area. He was then beaten with a PVC pipe on his back, including his spinal cord, and on the soles of his feet. His head was pushed hard against a wall several times. He was then pushed onto the floor, and the officers trampled upon his body.
<br>

<br>
On the following day, July 10, 2002, he was taken to the upper floor of the police station and shown a rope. He was then threatened that if he did not admit responsibility for the thefts he would be hung.
<br>

<br>
&quot;We will hang you up; we will kill and throw you out,&quot; he was told. &quot;You know we can escape. We can say that you ran away on the way. We will break your hands and legs. We will hit you in a way you will die in a month.&quot;
<br>

<br>
These threats were allegedly made by two police officers of the Crimes Division, Lalith Rajamantri and Nihal, who were drunk, and several other officers, who the victim states he would be able to identify if he sees them again. They kept on assaulting him several times.
<br>

<br>
Chaminda Premalal shouted: &quot;Don't hit me. My head is aching. I will admit to anything.&quot;
<br>

<br>
Then the torture stopped. He was taken home, and his own personal belongings - his bicycle which he uses to go to school, a screwdriver and a calculator used at school - were taken into police custody. He was taken to the police station again. The next day he came before a magistrate, and the magistrate ordered that bail be granted to him.
<br>

<br>
As a result of being tortured, the soles of his feet are swollen, he has pain in his spine, he faints periodically and has headaches, vomits and is confused. He is now being treated at the hospital in Aralaganvila.
<br>

<br>
Complaints and accusations of torture are building against the Sri Lankan police. Within the last two weeks, the torture of two school children, aged 10 and 12, by several police officers in Hiniduma, Galle, has shocked the nation and caused outrage. The attempt to get a confession from innocent people in unresolved criminal cases is the cause of many cases of torture which have been exposed and made public. The level of fabrication of cases and the use of blackmail by police officers has reached unbelievable proportions. Law enforcement has become a sad mixture of tragedy and comedy. The level of people¡¯s anger and outrage against the police is extremely high. The political authorities, who are very much aware of the problem, do little though to change this course of events. They take no legal or disciplinary action against the police despite the fact that under Sri Lankan law torture is a crime punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison. No one has yet been convicted under this law though, which was passed in 1994. Several cases are pending before the courts, however.
<br>

<br>

<br>
SUGGESTED ACTION
<br>

<br>
Please write to the prime minister, the inspector general of police (IGP), the attorney general and the minister of education and express your concern about the general use of torture in criminal investigations by the police and in particular, the use of torture against this 16-year-old boy, V. G. G. Chaminda Premalal.
<br>

<br>

<br>
SAMPLE LETTER
<br>

<br>
Dear
<br>

<br>
Ref.: Case of torture of V. G. G. Chaminda Premalal, 16, a high school student allegedly tortured by Lalith Rajamantri and Nihal of the Crimes Division and several other officers attached to the Aralaganvila police station in Polonnaruwa
<br>

<br>
Stories of torture in Sri Lanka are being heard every day now, and often the story is the same: the police arrest a person without any substantial evidence and use torture to pressure the person to admit to committing the crime that is being investigated. The violent manner in which these people in detention are treated is shocking. I urge that the Sri Lankan authorities seriously seek to eliminate the use of torture in the country by enforcing the law and by punishing the perpetrators of this heinous crime of torture.
<br>

<br>
I am particularly concerned about the life of V. G. G. Chaminda Premalal, a 16-year-old high school student, who was severely beaten on July 9 and 10, 2002. He is now in the hospital because of the violent beating he received at the hands of several police officers attached to the Aralaganvila police station in Polonnaruwa who were investigating several theft cases.
<br>

<br>
I ask you to follow up this particular case and all cases throughout the country that have recently been exposed and made public. I also ask you to seriously reform the police force of your country so that the barbaric use of torture during police investigations is a practice of the past.
<br>

<br>
Thank you for considering my earnest requests.
<br>

<br>
Sincerely,
<br>

<br>
-----------
<br>

<br>
PLEASE SEND A LETTER BY FAX OR EMAIL TO;
<br>

<br>
1. Hon. Prime Minister
<br>
Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
<br>
Cambridge Place
<br>
Colombo 7
<br>
SRI LANKA
<br>
Fax: 941 682905 or 542919 (Secretary to the PM)
<br>
Email: secpm@sltnet.lk (Secretary to the PM)
<br>
SALUTATION: Hon. Prime Minister
<br>

<br>
2. Hon. Mr. K.C. Kamalasabesan
<br>
Attorney General
<br>
Attorney - General's Department
<br>
Colombo 12
<br>
SRI LANKA
<br>
Fax: +941 436421
<br>
SALUTATION: Dear Attorney General
<br>

<br>
3. Hon. Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku
<br>
Minister of Human Resources Development, Education and Cultural Affairs
<br>
Isurupaya,
<br>
Sri Jayawardhanapura Kotte,
<br>
Battaramulla, Colombo
<br>
SRI LANKA
<br>
Tel: +941 784832 or 784807
<br>
Fax: +941 784325
<br>
Email: secedu@sltnet.lk (Secretary to the Minister)
<br>
SALUTATION: Dear Minister
<br>

<br>
4. Mr. B.L.V. Kodituwakku
<br>
Inspector General of Police
<br>
New Secretariat,
<br>
Colombo 1,
<br>
SRI LANKA
<br>
Fax: +94 1 446174
<br>

<br>
Also send a copy of your letter to;
<br>

<br>
1. Secretary
<br>
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
<br>
Kynsey Road, Borella, Colombo 8
<br>
SRL LANKA
<br>
Fax: +941 694 924
<br>
Email: sechrc@sltnet.lk
<br>

<br>
2. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
<br>
Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the question of torture
<br>
OHCHR-UNOG
<br>
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
<br>
1211 Geneva 10,
<br>
Switzerland
<br>
Fax: +41 22 917-9016
<br>
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch
<br>
Please mark &quot;URGENT ATTENTION: MR. VAN BOVEN&quot;
<br>

<br>

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-31-2002
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
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.