Font size: 
According to the narratives given in these cases the injuries to persons in most instances have been extremely serious, warranting hospitalization. Beatings with hands, boots and poles are frequently described.
In some cases the suspects were later taken to hospital by the police themselves, perhaps after the intervention of a superior officer. However, there are also several instances in which the police merely took a person to a Judicial Medical Officer or District Medical Officer to have papers signed without a doctor properly examining the victim or prescribing treatment.
However, a marked feature in the cases recorded this year is that in several instances the victims have told the doctors about the assaults. In the past victims were more afraid of making complaints, fearing they may be assaulted again after returning from the medical examination. This year also, there were several cases of such assaults following a report to a doctor. In one instance the person was assaulted in front of the doctor.
In all these cases complaints were made by the victims themselves, as well as human rights organizations on their behalf. Human rights organizations have made complaints to the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General's Department and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. In some instances complaints were also made to the National Police Commission. However, the Asian Human Rights Commission is not aware of any serious investigations into any of these allegations leading to prosecutions under the Convention Against Torture Act, Act No. 22 of 1994.
In previous years there were more investigations by the Special Inquiry Unit of the Criminal Investigation Division. However, the Asian Human Rights Commission is not aware of any inquiries into allegations of torture in cases reported in 2007. The country's Human Rights Commission has lost credibility even further this year as a competent body capable of investigating allegations of abuse.
The police higher authorities have begun to appeal to the public to understand the situation of their police officers and not to demoralize them by public criticism. The claim is that due to terrorism and the increase of organized crime the duties of the police have become more difficult, and they are unable to observe the niceties of proper policing under the present circumstances. The failure on the part of the higher police authorities to enforce discipline with the force and the failure on the part of the political authority to ensure accountability within the force remain the reasons for the constant practice of torture as well as other lapses in discipline. The year 2007 saw a further degeneration in this regard.
The National Police Commission ceased to exist as an independent body after the provisions of the17th Amendment to the Constitution for the purposes of the appointment of the commissioners to the NPC. This remains one of the more important reasons for the state of this public institution, which due to politicization and a long period of degeneration is today unable to provide even the basic services required.
For over a decade now, human rights organizations have constantly produced reports on police torture in the south of Sri Lanka, with detailed case reports. The various governments did not take any action to respond to these reports or the complaints by citizens. The governments instead tried to restrict the avenues of complaint. One of the reasons for restraining such complaints is to create the impression that torture does not in fact take place in Sri Lankan police stations.
The government and sometimes even the judiciary have developed the mindset that complaint statistics and stories given by complainants feed into the international criticisms about Sri Lanka's human rights record. Like a criminal who hides documents that reveal his crimes, the governments and other authorities try to hide the existence of widespread torture and other abuses of human rights by depriving people of avenues to make complaints. The human rights defenders of Sri Lanka who engage in collecting such information are also branded as conspirators who try to give the country a bad name.
While people are routinely tortured even in areas where the government has full control, the government protects the officers who perform these acts by trying to punish the complainants and those who assist them. The government propaganda industry is more important to the government than its investigating mechanism into crimes and the abuse of human rights. Sadly, capable investigators are displaced from their posts, those who toe the government line and hush up inquiries are encouraged and rewarded, and those who engage in propaganda denying all allegations of human rights violations get the plums.
--
(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia.)