Isthikar speaks loudly against police

My name is M.F.M.Isthikar. I am a businessman and father of two children. On 09.06.2008 around 5pm to 5.30pm I went to the pharmacy. I saw people were running on the road .I asked somebody why? He told me an elephant in the temple was stampede. So I also went to the temple and was standing near the post of the temple. The elephant was chained. The mahout was trying to calm down the elephant.

 After few minutes a person came from my back slapped on my ear. All the people turned back and looked at me. I also looked back. I saw a policeman in uniforms. He told me to go and tell anybody. The people were also remaining silent. I was upset and couldn’t think what was happened to me, I was ashamed and angry. Then the policeman asked my name and where do I live. I told. I told that I am a resident of Attalugama, Bandaragama. He then told me he assaulted me because of my own good.

 The chained elephant was taken out of the temple. The crowed gathered around me. Both the Sinhalese and Muslims came closer to me and said you were assaulted without any reason and we must take some action against this injustice. They also mentioned that police couldn’t assault people without any valid reason. I felt courageous. After that I came home.

 When I came home my mother also knew that I was assaulted. She too blamed the policeman. She cried and praised him bad luck. All the people in the village were against the injustice caused to me. At night there was a pain in both my ear and cheek. Whole night I was not sleep. Next day I put a small piece of cloth inside the ear and I saw blood in it. I didn’t feel any sense in the ear. The sound like ho ho came through it. I got the feeling that I want to do something for this. I went to the shop. The villagers came to me and accompanied me to the Janasansadaya. There we made complaints to the relevant authorities.

 After that we went to the Kalubowila hospital. They said there was damage in my ear. They gave me medicine for a month period. The ENT surgeon also inspect me and advice me to attend clinic. Next we complained to the Panadaura police. The police officer who inquired my case took a telephone call to the perpetrated police officer and questioned. The name of the alleged perpetrated police officer is Mahesh.

 I heard that he was saying that I was closer to the elephant and there was a danger to my life. He said that he assaulted me because of my own sake. Then the police officer who had taken the telephone call said any danger may cause to him why did you assault him and injure his ear? He further asked that could you assault people like that way. After that I went home.

 Up to date I have pain in my ear. I filled a Fundamental rights case before the country’s highest court and case is still pending. I have the attitude to stop such type of police assault against innocent people.

 After I sue, the alleged perpetrator Mahesh telephoned me. He is attached to the Bandaragama police station. He begged me not to take further actions with the case. He also proposed me to come to a settlement. He too promised with money and further said this was happened with out any common sense. He gave me telephone calls number of occasions. His wife to telephoned me and asked me to pardon her husband and also promised to give money.

Siriyawathi speaks loudly against injustice at school

My name is Ilandari Pedige Siriyawathi. I live in Thalpe North, Unawatuna ,Matara. I am 43 years old. I am a Sinhala Buddhist. This incident was happened on 06.11.2008.

 

I am a secondary victim. The name of my son is Praneeth Eranga Jayalath. He is 14 years old. He studies at Yatagala Malkam College, Galle.

 

On 06.11.2008 my son went to school as usual. During the Geographic period a class mate of my son showed the cover of my son’s exercise book which he was writing to the teacher named Mr.Siril. This book was given to my son by Janasansadaya as a gift. The book cover consists the circular of the education ministry which prohibited corporal punishment in schools.

 

The teacher called Mr.Siril told my son were you come to rule us? First you correct yourself before correcting us. After that this teacher showed the exercise book to the principal of the school. The name of the principal of the school is Mr.R.W.Chandrasiri. Then both my son and the student called Sadun were taken to the principal’s office. Then the principal asked them did we assault you earlier? My son answered yes. Then principal said you can go to the human rights.

 

The principal told both my son and Sadun to bring two pieces of papers. When they brought he forced them to write what was mentioned in the circular of the exercise book. Then the paper was stapled to my sons shirt and asked to walk around the school to show it to all the other students and teachers. So both Sadun and my son walked around the school in the afternoon under the hot weather. My son told me that he was unable to tolerate the shame at that moment.

 

My son told this incident to me on the 7^th. On the 7^th I asked my son why he didn’t go to school. Then he described this incident. I felt sorry for my son and furious about the principal.

 

After that I alone came to the Janasansadaya sub office in Galle. They told me to accompany my son. So I went there with my son. We made complaints to the relevant authorities.

 

After that the principal of the school tortured my son in various ways. When my son made a joke to a female student the principal blamed him saying you were not suitable to this school you were good for the human rights and told my son to tell me not to come to school even to take my younger son.

 

This way the principal was harassing my son. Every time this type of thing happened I couldn’t tolerate my suffering for my son. I got angry with the principal.

 

Every time this type of harassment occurred I came to the Janasansadaya and made complaints to the relevant authorities.

 

Some people in my village told me not to make teachers enemies by going to human rights. They also said they can’t grow up their children because of the human rights. They further said as a result of human rights they couldn’t do their work at the police station. But I didn’t care about those comments. Every time I heard those things I think I will not step back which I put forward.

 

One day Habaraduwa police came to our house and said to come to the women and child bureau in Colombo. I went there at 7am early in the morning on the said date. I waited there. One woman police constable came and asked why? I told the incident. She told me to sit down.

 

I was stayed there until 10.30am I told a policeman and he sent me to a woman police constable who was inside. She asked me what the problem was. I narrated my son’s story regarding the exercise book. I also showed the book to her. Then she told me the people who published this shouldn’t do things like this. These things make children mischievous further. She also said it was natural that the principal got angry after seen this book. After that she started to blame me.

 

At this moment my eyes were filled with tears. I felt that I was desperate. I got angry both with the principal and this woman police constable. I found money for the bus fair to come to this place by debt to a person in the village. Again they told me to sit down. I was sitting there for more than half an hour. I felt hungry because I didn’t eat. Once again I talked to a police officer and he sent me to the OIC’s room.

 

The OIC blamed me saying at first you had to file a case against Janasansadaya. He also told me to not to come hurriedly saying that you couldn’t brought up your children. I told him that I couldn’t get late. After that he sent me to another woman police constable.

 

When I went to her she called me mother and said why you gave this type of books to your children. She also said to remove the cover of the book and put another cardboard file. She had written something in a book and took my signature without read it to me.

 

She also asked my son to come there and said don’t take these books to school and if you take put a cover. She also took my son’s signature to a statement. But didn’t explain it.

 

The day we went to Colombo one of my son’s teachers in the school named Amitha has showed toffee, chocolate and a hundred rupee note to my younger son and asked where did your mother go? My son told her that we went to Karapitya hospital to take medicine as I  taught him earlier.

 

After coming from Colombo we went to Janasansadaya again and made complaints and posted them to relevant authorities.

 

When my elder son went to school the said teacher Mr.Siril asked how much a 1kg of Human Rights? When my son came home and said this I got angry. I felt sorry for my son. We didn’t complain to the police because it is useless.

 

The father of my children told me not to involve these types of things. He sometimes blames me. But I said I didn’t stop my fight until the justice will achieve.

 

The teachers of the school also told my younger son that your mother went to human rights for everything but not come to work at school. They passed hints for me.

Janasansadaya has made a victim solidarity group in our village. Some villagers are also not like this. They have passed hints saying that I became the mayor. On the day the VSG was made I was very happy. I am pleased because the people at Janasansadaya have come to my small poor house.

We want our mother back

Shama Nisansala is a 14 year old girl. She studies at Nebada Maha Vidyalaya. She is in grade 10. She resides at Nabada. Her address is Kapuge stores bare, Huggewatta , Pahala Kudaligama, Nebada.

 

She has a younger brother who is a grade 3 student in her same school and a younger sister who goes to Pre School. Her younger brother’s name is Saman Nissanka and her younger sister’s name is Shyami Nisansala.

 

Hewage Ramani is their loving mother. She is 32 years old. Their father is Hewage Simon. He is 39 years old. He hasn’t a permanent job.

 

Before they got married Hewage Ramani and Hewage Simon both worked at a garment factory in Biyagama Free Trade Zone. Their love affair resulted in marriage. After they had two children Ramani went abroad. She worked as a house maid in Kuwait for two years. She came to Sri Lanka because she heard that her husband was having an affair with another woman. After coming to Sri Lanka she went to work again in a garment factory in Girikola.

 

After sometime she went to see the woman who was said to be having an affair with her husband. She asked her to think of the two children and stop the affair with her husband. The woman refused. Ramani assaulted her in anger and went back home.

 

Some time after this incident Ramani again went to meet this woman with her daughter. At that time Ramani was nine months pregnant. This time in anger and frustration she threw acid on the woman. 

 

When her time was complete to give birth to her third child she went to Kandy her native place and had the child. She was arrested by the Sapugaskanda police 15 days after the child birth on the charge of murder.

 

The police gave the custody of her elder daughter and son to their grandmother while she was allowed to keep the new born baby with her in prison. Two of her relatives signed for bail and released her. She came home and stayed at home for three months. Ramani forgot to report to the courts on the said date in accordance with her bail conditions. One relative who signed for bail was also unable to report to the courts. So Ramani was again remanded.

 

At prison Ramani is called by a number. Her number is 895. Now she is in the women’s ward in Welikada prison. Her case is pending in the Gampaha High Court. Her case number is 149/07.

 

Now the three children of Ramani are living in an unsafe environment. Shama the eldest goes to pluck tea on weekends. Some men in the neighborhood have already begun to make ugly proposals to her. The only hope of these three children is the release of their mother as soon as possible. They do not like to leave their home and village and go to children’s home. They like to live together as a family under a one roof.

Names and addresses are changed for obvious reasons

Bandaragama police and kochchi case

On 20 May at about 11am Chaminda Sampath Kumara Wickramapathirana was returning home from the grocery store when he noticed a police jeep with about five men inside it, one of whom–Sub-Inspector (SI) Salwathura—was in uniform. As he passed the jeep a constable Kithsiri asked about the contents of his bag. He was told that it was poultry meat. Two other officers, Manoj and Salwathura, asked Chaminda the same question but when he replied they told him that he was the man they were looking for. Taking him by the scruff of his neck they entered his home.

Once inside the men searched his room and found a pawn receipt for some jewelry. On request, Chaminda gave them another pawn slip that he had, explaining that they had been given to him for safe-keeping by a neighbour. The neighbour K. Udayanga Kumara had asked Chaminda to hold them because the gold jewelery that had been pawned belonged to his girlfriend and the pair did not wish their parents to know about it. Chaminda was taken to Bandaragama police station for questioning; his mother was told sarcastically that ‘he had not done any wrong but had surely helped his friends’.

At the police station he was told that he was lying and a constable Manoj took him to the police barracks behind the police station, where there were more officers and rows of beds. The officers crowded around him and Chaminda was made to strip, kneel down and hold his hands up straight. Then one of the officers put about 10 kochchi chilies (which are particularly potent) into his mouth and he was forced to eat them. He was then told to sit on the floor and his hands were tied behind him with a strip of cloth, his ankles were bound and his head forced back by constable Manoj, who had sat behind him with head between his knees. Kochchi juice was squeezed into Chaminda’s upturned eyes and nostrils.

The torture continued. Manoj demanded that Chaminda lie on his back on the floor. An officer held his head down hard, while another stamped a booted foot on his chest and another stood on his knees. Chaminda remembers that the latter was not wearing shoes. Manoj again squeezed kochchi juice into Chaminda’s eyes and nose, demanding to know if Chaminda had any more receipts. Chaminda said that he had given up all the receipts he had with him.

Whenever Chaminda screamed, he says, he was slapped hard. SI Salwathura threatened that if he did not tell the truth he would be framed for the possession of fire arms, an offence that does not allow bail. Sergeant Manoj hit him around the head with a rubber water hose bent into two. Chaminda kept repeating that he did not know what else to tell them. The officers finally told him to dress and took him to a cell.

At about 6pm Chaminda’s brother came to see him, and the victim was able to tell him about the torture. The next morning at about 10am Chaminda recognised another acquaintance of Udayanga Kumara called Danushka Nuwan, in the next cell. Shortly after that the two men plus another, a man called Anil from Makalanda, were taken in a police jeep to several pawn shops in the Piliyandala area. They were with five police officers, among them SI Salwathura and Sergeant Manoj. The officers showed Chaminda’s, Danushka’s and Anil’s National Identity Cards (NIC) to the pawn shop owners and asked if there were any goods pawned under such identities. For the latter two they were successful, but for Chaminda they found nothing. Back at the police station Chaminda was again put into the cell.

On 24 May at about 10.15am Manoj again took Chaminda to the police, informing him that he would make him ‘vomit the truth’. He boasted that he had done so before to men bigger than him. According to Chaminda, SI Salwathura joined the threats.

Inside the barracks Chaminda was made to strip and sit on the floor with his knees bent and his hands around his knees so that he could be hung upside down with a thick pole (a pastle used locally to grind grain) raised and balanced on two iron boxes. This method of torture is the ‘dharma chakra’ in police jargon—’the wheel of enlightenment’. Manoj swung Chaminda around the pole shouting at him to tell the truth, then proceeded to grind chilies with a broom handle while voicing threats. The juice was again squeezed into Chaminda’s eyes and nose, and when this failed to get a confession it was repeated. Fresh kochchi chillies were ground at least five times as far as Chaminda remembers, and whenever he screamed in pain he was slapped in the face and hit with the bent, platted rubber water hose. Manoj would also hit the soles of his feet with the handle of the broom and another officer kicked his neck. He started struggling for breath and Manoj shouted that he was going to die.

Chaminda was later untied but tormented further by being given rations of water that were too small to effectively clean out his eyes. He says that he was almost blind at this point and could only make out shadows. Then he was given his clothes and told to return to his cell, and told the officers he couldn’t see the way; he fell over and the police guided him back. His relatives were denied access to him later that day.
Chaminda later got to know that his brother-in-law had come to the police station and managed to witness part of the abuse. When he asked officer Kithsiri to intervene, the policeman swore and chased him away. The victim also got to know that the gold jewelry which he was being accused of stealing had been delivered to the police station by a person named Chamil.

Chaminda was kept in the cell until the 27 May, when SI Salwathura told him to sign a small piece of paper, and he was taken to court. No statement was taken. He was charged for the possession of two pawn receipts not belonging to him and given bail. His next appearance in court is set for 8 September 2009.

Hello, Captain Ali

Yes, seperation of powers is the only solution!

Chairman of All Party Representative Committee (APRC) Minister Tissa Vitharana said a new Constitution will be introduced as the solution for the national question. He said executive presidential system would be abolished to revert to the Westminster form of government . He said the problems that arose when implementing the 13th Amendment would not arise because of the clear separation of power between the Center and the Province in the proposed Constitution. Minister Vitharana also said the concurrent list would be done away with so that the two parties could exercise their powers without interference. He said there would be separate bodies for policy making and monitoring of contentious national issues such as police, land power and water.

Prof. Vitharana said APRC has proposed setting up of an Upper House comprising of eight representatives from each of the nine provinces to ensure that no legislation seeking to take away devolved power was enacted. According to Prof. Vithrana state institutions would be established to deal with sectors like national farms and forests which subjects come directly under the Centre and not under provincial administration. He said the Local government and the Village Committee system would be restored while the Divisional Secretariat would be made the executive arm of the Pradeshiya Sabha.

The government hopes the passing of the new Constitution incorporating the APRC proposals would not be too difficult as the main opposition UNP has already pledged its support to the government to obtain a two-thirds majority.

Lanka Truth

How many prisons will be open?

When a school is closed two prisons will be open. This is a saying but it will going to be a reality in Sri Lanka.

Lanka Truth has reported according to the latest statistics issued by the Ministry of Education 16 schools have been closed down during last year (2008).

The statistics reveal that the number of schools in 2007 was 9678 and this has come down to 9662 at the end of last year.

 

The number of schools closed down in 2007 was 36.

Police fears Mervin

Members of the UPFA in Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha including its chairman Prasanna Ranaweera and Lanka Vijithe Kumara, Nandasiri Hewage, H.J. Somawardene and Chathura Dhanushka have lodged a complaint at Peliyagoda Police that they have been threatened with death by the chief organizer of the SLFP for Kelaniya electorate Minister Dr. Mervin Silva. When inquired the members said they lodged the complaint for their safety. When Minister Dr. Mervin was asked regarding the complaint made by the Chairman and other members of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha he has said, “I have opposed his moves several times. Such people cannot be in my electorate.” However, when ‘Lankatruth’ inquired from Peliyagoda Police they said they were not prepared to make any comment on the incident.

The Police said they would not make any statement regarding the incident to the media. The atrocities carried out in Kelaniya area by Dr. Mervin with the help of his gangs of thugs have heightened and the police doesn’t take any action. We have proved the involvement of Dr. Mervin and his thugs in the assault on students of Kelaniya University by publishing pictures. ‘Lanka Irida’ weekend newspaper too had published photographs showing Dr. Mervin and his thugs involved in the incident. The police has not taken any action regarding Dr. Mervin and his thugs. However, Kribathgoda Police arrested a student of the university, brought him before court and got him remanded for several weeks. No action has been taken regarding the thugs involved in the incident.

At present Kelaniya has been turned into a ‘ghetto’ of thugs and this is led by Dr. Mervin Silva, a minister of the UPFA and chief organizer of the SLFP for the area.

Lanka Truth

Hey’I am 109

Muslim Prabakaran ?

This is not new. Not unique to Sri Lanka. But a threat to the whole world. It will be a big problem to Mahinda Rajapakse than former Prabakaran scenario.

Lanka Truth has reported the Police have rceived information that 18 extremist armed groups are active basing its activities in Kanthankudi area in Batticaloa. A senior police officer said the Police have received information regarding the names of these groups and weapons they possess. According to Police sources the groups have 400 T-56 rifles, between 40 to 50 AK- 47 rifles, 50 pistols, 30 SLR weapons, 30 x 3.03 weapons and 300 hand grenades. It is expected to investigate whether arms left by Karuna’s faction when they had to abandon their camps after they split from the LTTE had fallen ino the hands of these extremist groups. The LTTE carried out attacks on camps esablished by Karuna’s faction and many of these camps had to be abandoned in a hurry leaving behind weapons and other paraphenalia.

 DIG Edison Gunatilleke, in charge of the Eastern Province, has announced an amenesty period for the extremist Muslim groups to hand over weapons in their possession until 2nd of next month. he Police have rceived information that 18 extremist armed groups are active basing its activities in Kanthankudi area in Batticaloa. A senior police officer said the Police have received information regarding the names of these groups and weapons they possess. According to Police sources the groups have 400 T-56 rifles, between 40 to 50 AK- 47 rifles, 50 pistols, 30 SLR weapons, 30 x 3.03 weapons and 300 hand grenades. It is expected to investigate whether arms left by Karuna’s faction when they had to abandon their camps after they split from the LTTE had fallen ino the hands of these extremist groups. The LTTE carried out attacks on camps esablished by Karuna’s faction and many of these camps had to be abandoned in a hurry leaving behind weapons and other paraphenalia. DIG Edison Gunatilleke, in charge of the Eastern Province, has announced an amenesty period for the extremist Muslim groups to hand over weapons in their possession until 2nd of next month.