police brutality in the dock
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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'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
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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 (
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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
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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
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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
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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;
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%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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