Police violence that cannot be hidden on social media!

The video of a police constable assaulting two youths on a motorcycle in the Eravur area in Batticaloa has been circulating on social media since the 23rd of this month. Following the social media revelations about this police constable who had inhumanly assaulted the youth in public, the Police Department had to arrest him. Despite the arrests and suspensions, police violence has not stopped. But with the advancement of social media today, not only police officers but the entire state as well as the private sector need to think twice…

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Police officer who assaulted youths in public caught on camera!

A video of two young men in the Eastern Province being brutally assaulted by a uniformed police officer is rapidly circulating on social media. The attack was carried out by a traffic police constable bearing the number 61169 in Eravur town on Friday evening, October 22. The two youths were on their way to a restaurant in the city on a motorbike for dinner and they had been riding the motorcycle despite the police officer’s order to stop the motorcycle. The video shows a police officer following them, scolding the…

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A man in Seeduwa shot to death by STF

A man who was traveling in a car was shot to death by the Police Special Task Force last night (17). The deceased has been identified as Lalith Wasantha Pintu (44), a resident of Katana, Seeduwa. According to Police Media Spokesman, Senior DIG Ajith Rohana, a group of STF officers had chased a suspicious whistle car on a tip which received to them. A person inside a car was injured when STF officers used their force to stop the car in the Baseline area in Seeduwa. He was later admitted…

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Another death at Peliyagoda police station!

The deceased is a 43 year old mother of two children who residing at Gemunu Mawatha, Peliyagoda. Peliyagoda Police arrested five persons including this woman when they have summoned to the police in connection with a clash between the two groups. Her relatives allege that she died because no action was taken to admit her to a hospital or give to necessary treatments even her relatives informed the police that she was a sick woman. Her daughter says her mother, who was in custody, screamed that she was having chest…

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One million rupees compensation for Sherman who died of police assault!

The Supreme Court today (14) has been ordered to pay one million rupees as compensation for violating fundamental rights to the petitioner Chadik Shaman (42), a resident of Ihala Bomriya, Kaduwela, who died of a police assault after being arrested by the Peliyagoda Police on February 25, 2017. Chadik Shaman, a father of two, was illegally arrested by a group of plainclothes police officers of Peliyagoda police who arrived at his residence on February 25, 2017 at around 04.00 am without filing any charges. The next day, his wife received…

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Jayamuni Anuradha Nilmini Vijesekara Vs .Sumedha Thushanga and others SC (FR) 449/2017

Chadik Shaman (42), who died of a police assault after being arrested by the Peliyagoda Police on February 25, 2017. Chadik Shamen, a father of two, was illegally arrested by a group of plainclothes police officers of Peliyagoda police without filing any charges. The next day, his wife received a phone call informing that Chadik was dead. Later, at the post-mortem examination at the Colombo National Hospital, the JMO had told to Chadik’s wife that the body had been subjected to severe torture  and that the death had occurred as…

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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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Public trust in government and police has eroded – SLCAT writes to IGP

The Sri Lankan Collective Against Torture says that when government authorities abuse power with arbitrary enforcement of the law against marginalised people in the society and In refusing to provide security to those people caused to erode public in state institute including government and police. They have stated this addressing IGP Mr. Wickramaratne in a letter titled as “preventing arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody”. The signatories of this letter are Anuradhapura Citizen’s Committee, Center for Policy Alternative, Centre for Human Rights and Development, Dabindu Collective, Human Rights Office Kandy,…

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