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SRI LANKA: Torture and Inhuman Assault of three young men by the Bagawantalawa police

September 9, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

10 September 2003

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UA-46-2003: SRI LANKA: Torture and Inhuman Assault of three young men by the Bagawantalawa police

SRI LANKA: arbitrary and illegal detention; Torture; Impunity
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Dear Friends

Inhuman Assault by the Bagawantalawa police of three young men

The victims are;

Name : Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham
Age : 23 years
Civil status : married with one child
Address : Chapelton Estate, T.V. Division Bagawantalawa
Employment : estate worker in Chapelton

Name : Ramaiya Saravanaraj
Age : 26 years
Civil status : unmarried
Address : Chapelton Estate, T.V. Division Bagawantalawa
Employment : helper at the restaurant (Ariyabavan Hotel, Matale)

Name : Muragaiya Prabhakaran
Age : 25 years
Civil status : unmarried
Address : Chapelton Estate, T.V. Division Bagawantalawa
Employment : tourist restaurant (Dynamo Restaurant)

Period of detention and torture : 7th July 2003 between 5 and 6 in the evening
The Location : Bagawantalawa town
Relevant police station : Bagawantalawa
Suspected police officers : group of officers and the Officer in Charge -OIC of the Bagawantalawa police.
Courts : Hatton magisterial courts
Eye Witnesses : Rama Chrisnan and Devum Nadaraja (both from Chapelton Estate)

Persons from whom further evidence can be got are;

Thuraisamy Murugaiya (the father of Prabhakaran)
Thangaiya Ramaiya and Sevana Muttu Kumari (the parents of Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham and Ramaiya Saravanaraj)
Loganathan : the president of the Pradeshiya Sabha (provincial council)
Uththran : trade union representative of C.W.C
Bala : a resident of Bogawantalawa
Three-wheeler drivers of the town, and others.

Description of the Incident:

While the three of them, Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham, Ramaiya Saravanaraj and Muragaiya Prabhakaran were walking from the town of Bogawantalawa towards Chapelton in the evening between 5 and 6pm on 7th July 2003, two three-wheelers came at high speed from the opposite direction. The first one hit Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham, resulting in him being thrown off the road. Since the three-wheeler failed to stop after the accident, the three of them turned back to go and make a complaint at the Bogawantalawa police station. In Bogawantalawa town there is a cinema hall by the side of the R.G.K. shop where cassettes are sold. As the three of them approached the shop, they were severely assaulted by three people in civilian clothing who got down from a jeep with batons and poles. It is from their conversation and the way that they addressed each other that the three victims learnt that these were police officers and the OIC of the Bogawantalawa police.

Following the assault in the town, they were then taken to the Bogawantalawa police station and then beaten again by the person identified as the OIC.

At about ten at night, on a request made by phone by the OIC, a certain officer by the name Karunakaran and a worker at the hospital, the doctor arrived at the hospital and after a discussion with the OIC, Ramaiya Saravanaraj was examined. According to Ramaiya Saravanaraj, he was warned by the OIC not to tell the doctor that he was assaulted by him but by the three-wheeler driver. While he was being examined by the doctor, the OIC held a pistol against his brother and threatened to shoot him if he told the doctor that he had been assaulted by him.

As well as this, according to Ramaiya Saravanaraj, the doctor did not ask him anything and did not examine the wounds that were on his back which had been caused by the beatings with a pole, nor the injuries of his brother, Muragaiya Prabhakaran.

While these three people were in hospital, they were visited by Thangaiya Ramaiya and Sevanu Muttukumari, the parents of Ramaiya Danapala Singham and Ramaiya Savanaraj, Thuraisamy Murugaiya the father of Murugan Prabhakaran, Mr.Logan the Chairperson of District Council, and Mr. Uthran, the representative of the trade union C.W.C. They were all chased away by the OIC of the police and were told that they could see things at the local courts.

They were then taken to the police station and remanded. Mr. Bala who came with food for the night for the three of them was chased away by the OIC and the hot water that was brought was also thrown at him, resulting in his hands being burnt.

The following day, 8th July 2003, the OIC got their signatures on a document and it was learnt that the same document was later submitted to the Magistrate in Hatton.

In the complaint made by the police to the magistrate regarding the three persons, they were accused of having assaulted the three-wheeler driver. The lawyer appearing for the defendants pointed out that the three of them were actually assaulted by the police. Besides, the wounds sustained on Ramaiya Saravanraj's back was shown to the magistrate (by lifting the T-shirt that he was wearing), the magistrate was not interested. Instead, the magistrate asked the police officer why the guns given to them were not used on such occasions. Then they were ordered to be remanded for a further 14 days.

After being imprisoned at Bogambara prison, Ramaiya Dhanapalasingham was in a ward in the prison hospital for three days for treatment of the wounds sustained at the hands of the police.

Then the lawyer, Mr.Rajendran, on a motion made to the magistrate got them bailed out. Despite the fact that torture by police was mentioned in the application for bail, the magistrate requested them to make a complaint to the police.

Later they were admitted to the Nuwaraeliya hospital and remained there for four days during which time a statement was recorded by an officer bearing the number R 7957, who was attached to the hospital police. The next hearing at the Hatton magistrate court was fixed for 19th August 2003.

UPDATED INFORMATION

Even the efforts made by the victims to make a complaint to the Superintendent of Police - SP for Hatton, regarding the failure on the part of the police to inquire into their torture, met with no success.

Through the mediation of the Kandy Justice, Peace and Human Development committee, the victims were able to meet with the SP Mr. R. Kumarasinghe and make a complaint.

The Assistant Superintendent of Police refused to accept their complaint but later on the evidence provided by the representative of the Human Rights Committee he recorded separate statements from each of the three tortured persons. Unfortunately so far no investigations have been conducted regarding this complaint.

In the meantime, the complaint made by the police against these three persons were to be heard on the 19th August, but due to the absence of the magistrate the case was postponed for 9th September. It also must be mentioned that so far the police have not been able to produce any charges against them.

Case No. B - 337/03
MC - Hatton

The case has been reported to the National Police Commission and the National Human Rights Commission by the Justice, Peace and Human Development Committee.

SEND LETTERS/FAXES/EMAIL TO:

1. Mr. John Amaratunge
Minister of Interior
P.O. Box 572, No. 15/5, Baladaksha,
Mawatha, Colombo 3,
SRI LANKA
Tel: 941 2 430-860
Fax: 00941 2 -385526
Email: interior@sltnet.lk

2. Hon. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 1 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 1 2 691 926
Fax HOME: +941 2 674148

4. National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 1 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 1 2 694 924
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

5. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch

and at:

International Relations
Maastricht University
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-43-3883233 (Assistant: Chantal Kuipers)
Email: th.vanboven@ir.unimaas.nl

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear

RE: Torture and Inhuman Assault of three young men by the Bagawantalawa police

I write regarding the unmitigated incident of assault, Torture and illegal detention of Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham, Ramaiya Saravanaraj and Muragaiya Prabhakaran. The three men were walking from the town of Bogawantalawa towards Chapelton in the evening between 5 and 6pm on 7th July 2003. They were severely assaulted by three people in civilian clothing with batons and poles who got down from a jeep. It is from their conversation and the way that they addressed each other that the three victims learnt that these men who assaulted them were police officers, including the OIC of the Bogawantalawa police. The three victims were further assaulted and Tortured when they were held illegally in jail.

I urge you to allow a medical doctor access to Ramaiya Dhanapala Singham, Ramaiya Saravanaraj and Muragaiya Prabhakaran, to give them the medical attention they require. I also strongly urge you to order an impartial and urgent investigation into this incident of the inhuman treatment of the three victimes, and to bring disciplinary action against the perpetrators.
Thank you.

Yours faithfully



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Thank you.

PAMELA APPS
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-46-2003
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.