police brutality in the dock

7/24/2019 Police Brutality in the Dock

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Police brutality in the dock

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Today the Lankan Police is placed in the nation’s dock, publicly indicted with the

charge of resorting to inhumane and primitive methods to wring confessions out of

suspects in police custody.

The time has arrived for the Chief of Police to publicly take cognizance of

the allegations made by the victims, to take

note of the concerns raised by various

human rights groups and to make his own

confession voluntarily, of course of the

rotten state of affairs that e!ists in his

department and affirm to the nation his vow

to clean his barracks" not cover up his mess.

The good name of the police is at stake#

and, as the head of the khakied $am

%rowne force under his command, the baton

stops in the Police Chief’s hands.

$eptember’s gruesome murder of little $eya

provoked a riot of reactions. The horrific rapeand murder of that five&year&old girl caused

an unbridled outbreak of public fury and repugnance which gripped the people in a

frenzied mob mentality that thirsted for blood and demanded an eye for an eye, a life

for a life.

Brutality claims: Hakmana residents stage a street protest ononday over t!e "ounded boy#s claims !e "as badly assaulted

"!ile in police custody

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/151108/columns/police-brutality-in-the-dock-170853.html

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http://www.sundaytimes.lk/151108/columns/police-brutality-in-the-dock-170853.html



't a time when the public clamour had hit fever pitch it signalled open season for the

police to do their worst to satisfy the public’s lust for vengeance best. The method

employed was not painstaking detective work to elicit the killer’s identity but the hit or

miss mode to beat the living daylights out of the first unfortunate suspect who fell into

their net and to wring a convenient confession from him that would prove his guilt

beyond all doubt.

(n the case of $eya’s murder, )unesh Priyashantha, never had a chance. *e seemed

the perfect fit for the identity kit the police had already con+ured up in their minds a

child killer would possess. ' vagabond, a recluse, a part&time grave digger, a man

convicted of molesting a child two years ago and en+oying his freedom under a

suspended sentence, he was the dream star at the Policemen’s %all the police could

ever have wished for. $o much so that he was even baptised by the police with a

stage name and made infamous as ondaya, a name )unesh claims no one had ever

used before to refer to him.

'fter a few days of being smothered with police hospitality whilst in police custody, he

could not help himself but voluntarily agree to accept the authorship of his ghost&

written memoirs which described in graphic detail how he had raped and murdered

$eya.

“( noticed that one of the little girls sleeping in the bed was very beautiful. ( too was

yearning to be with this little girl. ( like children,- )unesh wrote in his confession which

was immediately released to the media by the police who hailed it as final confirmation

of their successful investigation. %ut in their +ubilance to trumpet their triumph from

their watch towers, the police had +umped the gun. hen the )/' test results arrived

from the private lab, it showed that )unesh’s )/' samples did not match with those

found on $eya.

Luckily for the police they had a spare. )unesh’s brother, $aman. To cover up their



embarrassment when their stage&managed conclusion came a cropper 0 a conclusion

they had so cockily announced to the public even without waiting another week for the

)/' verdict to come 0 they did not apologise for their gross error which had

condemned a man as a child killer, but brazenly replaced )unesh with $aman and

held a confession by him which was almost identical to the one the police had

produced as )unesh’s confession, as damning evidence of his heinous crime.

“%ut when ( saw $eya, lying on the bed with her

mother and the other children, my thoughts turned to

her,- $aman had confessed to the police giving a

detailed account of the tragic night which has an

uncanny similarity to )unesh’s confession. This time the results of the private lab did

not let the police down. hen the )/' verdict arrived on 1ctober 2, it would have

thrilled police cockles to the brim and ironed their puckered brows with relief to find

that the samples matched.

The police may have solved the mystery of $eya’s killer though it will be to the courts

to determine $aman’s guilt. %ut it has not solved the mystery of how )unesh came to

make his statement confessing to the murder. 1n 1ctober 34, four days after he was

released by the 5ampaha 6agistrate, )unesh held a press conference and claimed

that he had been brutally assaulted by the police whilst in police custody. 7( am not that

literate. ( did not make such a statement and therefore ( did not know what the

statement contained. ( signed it because ( was forced to do so after being beaten by

the C() officers several times,- he said.

The official police spokesman brushed his claims aside saying that )unesh had been

produced in the magistrates’ courts on many occasions but had not complained of any

police brutality to the magistrate. %ut as the $8/)'9 P8/C* asked in its comment

on 1ctober :: 7as it fear of any further assault upon returning to the remand cell

from the court house that kept him silent;- )unesh’s answer to the police spokesman

given at his 1ctober 34 press conference was 7( badly wanted to tell the court that (



was not guilty, but ( feared for my life due to threats by the police.-

(n this regard )unesh was not alone. ithin a week of $eya’s body being found

dumped in a thicket two neighbours had been arrested. 1ne of them, a :<&year&old

boy had been taken in because he had known $eya and her family and had a

photograph of her in his laptop. 'fter they were freed by the magistrate on 1ctober :,

they broke their silence. They both complained they had been brutally assaulted and

sub+ected to torture by the police.

1n ednesday, it was reported that the :<&year&old youth, a 5C= ' >Level student,

has filed a fundamental rights violation action claiming ?s. :@ million in the $upreme

Court, alleging that he was unduly and wrongfully arrested abused and assaulted by

the police over the abduction, rape and killing of five year old $eya. The other

neighbour who was also arrested, a 4:&year&old father of one, has also filed a similar

action.

This 6onday, *akmana residents took to the streets to protest against another

instance of police brutality upon a young lad taken into custody on 1ctober 3A over amobile phone he had purchased. Confined to a wheelchair with his head, legs and

hands in bandages and his feet swollen, the young man spoke of his ordeal.

*e claimed" 7hen ( went to the police ( was told that a shop near our home had been

burgled. They asked me to say it was ( who had done it. hen ( refused ( was badly

beaten. They put petrol on to my head and forced me to drink some petrol too. They

beat me further and told me to confess to the crime or else they would kill me and

dump me in the )eiyandara tank with the handcuffs. They then removed my clothes

and beat me with kurudhu poles and forced kurudhu poles down my mouth.-

1n 1ctober 3<, he was produced in the )eiyandara 6agistrate’s Court and released

on bail. ?esponding to this incident, the official police spokesman stated that with

regard to a house break&in, the *akmana police had taken a wanted suspect into



custody on 1ctober 3<. 7*e has complained that police officials at the *akmana police

station had assaulted him and had been admitted to the amburupitya hospital. '

complaint to determine as to why he was assaulted has also been received by the

'dditional Police Commissioner of 6atara in charge of the *akmana Police station

and an inBuiry has commenced,- he announced to the media.

't least these suspects who claim to have been sub+ect to police brutality were lucky.

They lived to tell the tale. 1thers in the recent past were not so fortunate. )uring the

former regime, when selective law enforcement was practised, almost as a rule, many

mysterious deaths of suspects in police custody gave rise to the worst suspicions

being cast on the mavericks in the police which in turn tainted the entire force. These

suspicious deaths occurred in cases involving the most horrific murders the sort of

gruesome murders that provoke utmost public outrage.

1n /ovember :2 3@:4, a 43&year&old police constable and his wife were shot dead at

their home. The police constable, $unil eligamaarachchi, had been an officer

attached to the 6atara )ivision 'nti&vice $Buad and had been engaged in a number of

drug raids. *e and his wife and their two&year&old daughter had been attacked with

clubs and swords. 's public anger mounted over the killings and demand to find the

murderers grew, police action was swift and to the point.

The key suspect was shot dead when he was taken to a hideout in search of

weapons. 'nother suspect was also shot dead when he was taken by the police in

hand cuffs to show productions. Two more suspects drowned after reportedly +umping

into the )enagama ?iver, while trying to escape from police custody. There was no

need for further investigations. ithin a few days all the suspects were dead. The case

was closed.

The public applauded, their bloodlust sated.

(n ebruary 3@:A, a businessman dealing in gems was shot dead in the *idellana



area in ?atnapura. 1n 6arch ::, the main suspect in the murder, $ugath Chaminda

alias >Palankada *eena,’ was killed by the Police. (t had occurred during a

confrontation with the police. The suspect had been arrested in *ikkaduwa the

previous day. *e was taking the police to the 6ahawalawatte area to recover hidden

weapons when the confrontation had taken place. *e was also wanted for 3: murders

and 4: kidnappings, the police added.

(t should be noted that merely because a person is wanted for a murder does not

necessary make him guilty. *e could be a key suspect or he could be +ust one in the

long list of the usual suspects the police generally round up to Buestion if only to

e!clude him from the investigation as a possible suspect. (f he was indeed responsible

for all the 3: murders and 4: kidnappings, then doesn’t it only serve to show the gross

incompetence of the police in their ab+ect failure to apprehend the suspect before he

committed his 33nd murder;

The information that the man was wanted for 3: murders and 4: kidnappings serves

to cast him beyond the pale of redemption and prompts the reBuired response from

the public, >serves him right, he got what he deserved’. (n the eyes of criminal law,

when a man is charged with a crime, similar crimes committed in the past cannot be

admitted as evidence to pre+udice his innocence of the specific crime charged unless

the accused presents himself as a saint.

1n 6ay 2, 3@:A, two police constables were on traffic duty on the )ambulla

urunegala road from :@ pm onwards. They stopped a van to inspect it around : a.m.

when a man armed with a T&D2 assault rifle pointed it at the two policemen and

bundled them into the van. They were taken to the %adagamuwa forest where they

were stripped. The armed men had shot one policeman while the other had managed

to escape.

The (5P offered a reward of ?s. : million for information leading to the arrest. Two



weeks later the police arrested a suspect. The suspect led the police to show them

where he had hidden his weapon. $uddenly there was an e!change of fire, the

suspect had thrown a hand grenade and in the confrontation he had been shot dead.

ith the file closed, the mystery as to why these two constables were abducted and

taken to a forest area where one was then killed will remain unsolved. )id anyone

claim the ?s. : million reward;

This Eanuary, Lankans awoke to find the dawn of the /ew 9ear besmirched in blood. '

AF&year&old lady dentist, her husband, and their son, :D, and daughter, :4, had been

brutally hacked to death. The daughter had been raped before she had been killed.

Two days later the police arrested a suspect. %ut he committed suicide, said the

police. *e had been taken by the police to obtain some information when he had

+umped into the 6a 1ya and drowned. 8nlike in ondaya’s case, no )/' tests were

done to determine whether his )/' matched any samples found at the murder scene.

hilst some sections of the public may welcome such deaths in police custody as

good riddance of bad rubbish, whilst police sleuths may be spared of all the attendant

inconveniences of the due process and heave sighs of relief that the case file on such

heinous crimes can be closed, while the families of the victim may think +ustice has

been done and their loss avenged, isn’t there a danger that the police may have got

the wrong suspect and that the real killer may still be at large and laughing;

(n all these instances, the Police Chief has creditably ordered internal police inBuiries.

%ut has any report done in&house ever been published; =ven if it has been, can any

credence be placed on an internal report so tainted with the possibility of partiality;

ill it serve to strengthen public confidence and enhance the respect accorded to the

$am %rowne; 'fter years of being the pawns of politicos in power, is there any ground

for optimism that the police, like the weather cock on the tower, will not turn in the way

the winds of change blow;



%ut as selective law enforcement has been practised almost as state policy by the

previous regime during these last ten years, the police cannot be totally blamed for a

frightening drop in standards. Promotions, transferences all depended on who best

served the will of the political masters and orders followed to achieve vested political

interests were granted unofficial immunity. That had been the practice. /ow, in

keeping with President $irisena’s vision of >+ust governance’, it is time to change it.

(nternal police inBuiries, vital as they are, to probe individual cases of police brutality or

deaths in police custody, are not the answer. hat is reBuired is a complete overhaul.

President $irisena should appoint a Presidential Commission to inBuire into the state

of Lanka’s Police orce and to make recommendations on how best to ensure more

accountability and transparency at Police stations.

(n all fairness to the police they must first be presented with the new guidelines to

follow when arresting, Buestioning and detaining a suspect. The Commission should

be given the mandate to inBuire into the whole gamut of police operations and come

with the recommendations that will ensure that the police are not able to become a law

unto themselves and allowed to usurp with impunity the role of the +udge and the task

of the hangman.

Police Chief (llangakoon is presently in 8ganda and is e!pected to return this week.

6ost probably, he would have made use of the opportunity and collected a dossier on

how the 8gandan police functioned under the brutal regime of (di 'min and how their

actions contributed to the regime’s inevitable downfall. This, no doubt, would

strengthen his resolve to ensure that his own force does not descend to 'min’s sewers

but will emerge smelling roses under his command and, in the new maithree era set to

dawn, receive once more the honour and respect the nation traditionally accords to the

guardians of the law.



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police brutality in the dock

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