Tag: fundamental rights cases in sri lanka

Balapitiya Court Delivers Verdict After 17 Year Long Torture Case Involving 14 Year Old Schoolboy

Seventeen years after the brutal torture of 14-year-old schoolboy Buddhi Ewantha Gunasekara from Eranawila, Mitiyagoda, the Balapitiya High Court yesterday (11) handed down long-awaited sentences to four accused, including senior police officers and a civil guard. The tragic case dates back to March 7, 2008, when Buddhi, then a Grade 9 student, was arrested on allegations of stealing money from a neighbor’s house. He was taken into custody by Sub-Inspector Saman Palitha Athukorala and Civil Guard Lalith de Zoysa, based on a complaint lodged with the Mitiyagoda Police. Soon after,…

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Supreme Court Orders Thambuttegama Police Officers to Personally Pay Rs. 1.2 Million to Assault Victim

In a landmark judgment that reinforces the importance of accountability in law enforcement, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ordered six police officers attached to the Thambuttegama Police to pay Rs. 1.2 million in compensation to a youth who was brutally assaulted during a protest in 2012. The compensation must be paid personally by the officers, marking a rare instance where law enforcement officials have been held individually liable for the violation of fundamental rights. The Court also instructed the Attorney General to examine the possibility of initiating criminal…

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Another victim hit by police bullet!

A suspect who was in police custody has been shot dead by the police today (26). The deceased has been identified as Lasantha of Hewalunuwila. He is the main suspect in the murder Amila Prasanna Hettihewa alias of Sunshine Sudda who was killed on September 4th at Warakapitiya in Weligama, Matara. The suspect was arrested by the Kalutara Divisional Crime Investigation Unit in the Diyagama area. He later went to show his hidden weapons and was shot dead by police as he tried to flee, police said. According to the police, he…

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A drunken police officer assaults a person

යක්කලමුල්ල පොලීසිය බීමතින් පුද්ගලයෙකුට පහර දී යකා නටයි!

A man who had gone to a funeral home in Udugama has been assaulted by three drunken  police officers at Yakkalamulla police. The victim is Nagoda Gamage Sudath Sanjeewa, a married father of one, residing at Miniranwalakanda, Udugama Central. He works as a scavenger driver. A funeral was held at the house of his friend Chamara Idunil and He had also attended the Mathaka bana chanting held at that house last (22) and had stayed at that house. Sudath had gone to the Mathaka bana chanting that day on his…

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Prison officials think of inmates with contempt – Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera

Senaka Perera, Attorney-at-Law, Chairman of the Committee to Protect the Rights of Prisoners, says that despite the slogan ‘Prisoners are human beings’, law enforcement officials themselves have a low opinion of prisoners / suspects. He said that there are 28 prisons in Sri Lanka and there are about 25,000 suspects and prisoners in them at present and they are not treated as human beings in prisons in any way. He pointed out that although there have been a number of murders in prisons so far, there is still no culprit, citing…

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Another suspect dies in police custody

A suspect arrested by the Matugama Police has died suddenly. The deceased has been identified as Vidanage, Bellanagama Dhanuka Saliya, (40) who lived in No. 49, Yatadola. The suspect was arrested by the Matugama Police yesterday (22) in connection with a kassippu charge and fell ill. He was rushed to the Wettewa Government Hospital in Matugama due to mucus coming out of his mouth, but he had already died, hospital sources said. The body has been sent to the Nagoda Hospital, Kalutara for an autopsy. Eight suspects have died in…

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Kanda Udage Malika Vs D.M. Aberathna and others SC/ FR/ 157/2014

On the May 7, 2014 Sandun Malinga, a 17 year old boy and four others with him were beaten by police officers, arrested and detained at the Kandaketiya police in the Badulla district. Sandun and the other four were taken to the District Medical Officer (DMO), brought back to the police, taken to a Magistrate and remanded in the Badulla remand prison in the evening. The following day, May 9, around 5.30 am his brother who had been also remanded saw Sandun panting and struggling for breath and alerted the…

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Kandaketiya Judgement and Continuing Deaths in State Custody – Ruki Fernando

On the May 7, 2014 Sandun Malinga, a 17 year old boy and four others with him were beaten by police officers, arrested and detained at the Kandaketiya police in the Badulla district. The next day, around 2.30 am, Sandun complained of chest pains when his mother visited him at the police station but police officers refused the mother’s request to admit him to hospital. The mother visited him again around 7.30 am and saw him in a bad condition, lying on the cold floor while crying. When she had…

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