{"id":1042,"date":"2015-10-23T02:37:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T02:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2015-10-27T01:26:57","modified_gmt":"2015-10-27T01:26:57","slug":"sri-lanka-routine-police-torture-devastates-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1042","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka: Routine Police Torture Devastates Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sri_lanka_polie-Scotland\"<\/a>Sri Lanka\u2019s police forces regularly torture and ill-treat criminal suspects in custody, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The authorities should create an independent oversight authority and adopt concrete steps to end police abuse that has had such corrosive effects across Sri Lankan society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sri Lankan police treat the use of torture as an ordinary way of obtaining confessions,\u201d said Brad Adams, Asia director. \u201cThe police regularly get away with using torture to falsely \u2018resolve\u2019 cases that really aren\u2019t being resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 59-page report, \u201c\u2018We Live in Constant Fear\u2019: Lack of Accountability for Police Abuse in Sri Lanka,\u201d documents various torture methods used by the Sri Lankan police against criminal suspects, including severe beatings, electric shock, suspension from ropes in painful positions, and rubbing chili paste in the genitals and eyes.<\/em> Victims of torture and their families may spend years seeking justice and redress with little hope of success.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch conducted research in greater Colombo and other parts of Sri Lanka in 2014 and 2015. Previous Human Rights Watch reports have focused on wartime abuses, including torture of minority Tamil civilians. This report documents how torture and police abuse are entrenched and devastating to the majority Sinhalese population as well.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch\u2019s findings are consistent with those of domestic human rights groups that have long worked on documenting torture in Sri Lanka\u2019s police stations and jails.<\/p>\n

For example, Gayan Rasanga died in police custody in 2011 after he was arrested on suspicion of theft. Rasanga\u2019s mother said that when she went to the morgue, she saw her son\u2019s body had \u201cdark marks on his ankles. The soles of his feet looked like they had been burned. There were bruises on his hips, his nose was broken and bloody.\u201d<\/p>\n

AJ,\u201d who was arrested on suspicion of theft in March 2015, said that police beat him to force a confession: \u201cWithin a minute I could feel my skin peeling, breaking. I was screaming very loudly from the pain. He kept saying that he knew that this was the way to get me to tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The history of police procedural violations against criminal suspects has contributed to the use of torture despite promises of reform by successive Sri Lankan governments. Suspects frequently are not informed about the reasons for their arrest. Police sometimes fabricate charges to justify the initial arrest and subsequent abusive interrogation methods. Suspects often are not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours as required by Sri Lankan law. Family members usually are not informed of an arrest or allowed access to their detained relatives. Suspects may have little or no access to lawyers, and protection mechanisms such as examination by medical officers are haphazard or improperly implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the saddest things about these cases is that, although Sri Lanka has decent laws to protect against such abuse, these laws seem to be treated as mere suggestions and not as required police procedures,\u201d Adams said. \u201cArbitrary arrest and other police mistreatment end up contributing to the use of torture. The police are meant to protect and uphold rights, not be the torchbearers of dismantling rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in cases where victims or their families were able to file complaints before the courts and other mechanisms, there has been only a remote chance of justice and accountability. Victims can file complaints against police abuse with the local courts, but lawyers and rights activists say that there are significant barriers to securing justice through this process, particularly in rural areas where the police engage in intimidation and threats against victims. In addition to court fees, there are regular court appearances and attorney fees for each appearance, and it typically takes years before cases are heard properly, if at all. Lawyers and rights activists advocating on behalf of the victims told Human Rights Watch that the police are allowed a wide discretionary berth by their superiors, the attorney general\u2019s department, and the courts.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s new government took office in early 2015 on a promise of a wide array of reforms. To curtail the practices documented, the Sri Lankan government, at a minimum, should implement the following reforms:<\/p>\n