Sign In Sign-Up

Welcome!

Close

Would you like to make this site your homepage? It's fast and easy...

Yes, Please make this my home page!

No Thanks

  Don't show this to me again.

Close

Clause 13(1) of the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka says: -

"No person shall be arrested except according to procedure established by law. Any person arrested shall be informed the reason for his arrest"

Under the prevailing conditions in Sri Lanka those arrested at checkpoints or road check are not in any way treated with deference to the above clause of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. We can quote a never-ending list of arrests at road checks or checkpoints in the North and East and occasionally in Colombo.

At Maruthamunai checkpoint two Tamil young men who came on motorbike, Nagaratnam Srikanth of Periya Nilavanai and Somasundaram Mamangeswaran of Kalmunai were arrested, and taken to the PTA camp at Amparai.

And clause 12(2) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Says:-

" No citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex political opinion, place of birth on any one of such grounds."

Here we reproduce one of our letters to the President’s Committee on Unlawful Arrests and Harassment.

1. 22^nd November 2000

Our Ref: FD/AH/73/00

The Secretary

President’s Committee

on Unlawful Arrests & Harassment,

No. 152, Galle Road,

Colombo – 03.

Dear Sir,

Mr. Sivarasa Gananathan

The above named is our client and he was indicted at the Anuradhapura High Court in case Nos. 2/2000 & 3/2000 and there had been a warrant issued against him for not being present at that case. This person was subsequently arrested for the warrant and produced before the Mallakam Magistrate in case no. A125/2000, and the warrant was recalled.

Sivarasa Gananathan came to Colombo and wanted us to produce him in the Anuradhapura High Court, and we were taking steps to go to Anuradhapura High Court to produce him.

Sivarasa Gananathan was arrested by the Wellawatte Police on the 20^th of November, 2000, on the alleged suspicion, and he had been beaten badly, and the police had also taken a statement from his elderly mother Mrs. Sivarasa Parameshwary who had also come to Colombo along with him. The police officers had also written the name of a relative who had accompanied her to the police, and he is a Govt. servant and he too is scared of harassment.

When we contacted the Police they informed us that they would be producing him in a week at the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’scourt and he would be sent to the Anuradhapura High Court after that. A person arrested for a warrant cannot be kept in custody for such a long period of time. I wish to bring to your notice that any person arrested for a warrant cannot be beaten or any statement cannot be recorded from any person who had accompanied them.

Please be good enough to take steps to produce him before the Honourable Magistrate of Mount Lavinia, immediately.

Thanking you.

Yours faithfully,

Trini Gordon Rayen

for Secretary

For your kind perusal we forward a letter from Ms. Maheswary Velautham about the fate of her own relatives.

 

2. 21^st November 2000

At road checks, pedestrians and passengers alike are checked by the officers who man the checkpoints. It will be intensified if there had been any bombing incidents. The officers may take any one in for questioning be it male or female, adult adolescent or young child, and detain them for questioning and later produce them before a magistrate.

We have got complaints from some of the victimized and eventually traumatized individuals or their close relations. We reproduce below two letters written by us to the President’s Committee on unlawful Arrests and Harassment. We give some more examples of arbitrary arrests and detentions.

Here are some cases of arrests under the categories stated according to the Newspapers:

A popular Tamil daily Virakesari of 31/07/2000 reports that on 30/07/2000 there was a cordon and search operation at Nelliady. Though no one was arrested the market place was empty with hardly any sale going on. The same ‘paper of 26/6/2000 reports: after a cordon and search operation in Achchuveli, two people were arrested by the security forces Thiagaraja Mathanapatham [20yrs.] of Achchuveli, and Kathiravel Venugopal were the two arrested.

Another Tamil daily Thinakkural of 22/04/2000 reports again about a cordon and search operation at Puloly Pultarai for a long time and people were inquired in detail. The people were asked to come to the Pultarai Upayakathigama temple. This went on from 2.30.p.m. Virakesari of 06/03/2000 on page 5 reports that the public in Jaffna undergo a lot of inconvenience during the cordon and search operation as these are carried out very frequently. From early morning at 5.00 a.m., people are not allowed to leave their homes. As this happens very often, people are not able to get about their businesses.

Students are also victimized whenever there have been incidents of bombing.

On Thursday 13/07/2000, in the evening, an A/L student Somasundaram Sanjeevan of Jaffna Hindu College, was shot and killed by the Security Forces near Kokkuvil. Fellow students as a mark of respect for Sanjeevan, were distributing pamphlets and the security forces on seeing them arrested two of them. The principal of the college has brought this incident and that of the shooting of Sanjeevan to the notice of the Jaffna town commander and has requested an immediate inquiry.

Thinakkural a Tamil daily of 13/04/2000 on page 1 reports that 18 undergraduates of the Jaffna campus were arrested, as a result of a Hartal held in Jaffna from morning to evening 4.00 p.m. When the students were returning after doing relief work to those who came form Maruthankeny, they were arrested at Irupalai Junction. As a result over thousand students have vowed not to leave the campus till the rest are released. The Human friendship society is trying its best to have the arrested students released. At Thinneveli the army personnel are said to take photographs of the university students coming in a group.

Let’s take the case of fishermen arrested while fending for their livelihood: -

4 young men of Kurunagar who went to fish in an area prohibited by the Navy were arrested by the police and produced before the Magistrate. They are Sundaram Fernando (23years) Sundaram Anandarajah (30years) Anton Coline[19yrs.] Amalraj George Hilman[20yrs.].

In another incident, six people fishing at Kurunagar Srithivu were arrested by the navy. Sinnappu Rosario Reginald (36 years) Sebastion Alvin Appar (45years) Dominique J. Dunson (35 years).

When the Kurunagar fishing society was contacted they said the six arrested fishermen were at the Kayts navy camp. They were arrested by the Mandaitivu navy personnel. Relations of the six have complained about it to J/HRC.

Three young men who were believed to be missing, are reported to be at Karaitivu Special Task Force or Commando unit. On 15/07/00, the three of them namely R. Kokulathasan (18 years) P. Sudhakaran (19 years) and R. Baskaran (19 years) went to the Thanthaamalai Murugan Temple and were returning when they were arrested.

Virakesari of 12/12/2000 says that about 372 males and 64 female were arrested under PTA in 1999.

The representatives of the trade union in the hill county has requested the DIG Meegoda, to free those arrested in the estate sector following the troubles that erupted in the hill country in the aftermath of the Bindunuwewa incident. They feel that the arrests are unnecessary and the labourers may go on strike. They have requested the DIG to take necessary steps to have them released.

Thousands of Tamil youth arrested under PTA are languishing in jails. 2500 are in jail to be exact in about 346 police stations and army camps including Magazine, Central jail, Kalutara and Welikada jails, Boosa, Galle, Bogambara, Anuradhapura and Batticaloa. Most are arrested without any reason. Although the new Minister of Justice promised to take action regarding these arrests nothing has been done so far.

Under Emergency Regulation brought about in May, the arrested need not be produced before a Magistrate at the end of three months. So the police can keep them for a long period. There is torture of the prisoners reported regularly in the printed media. Those in the legal profession feel the Chief Justice should be pressurized to take action on this matter.

A CWE employee was arrested by army personnel in civil who came on a motor bike. The victim was displaced from Colombuthurai and was residing at Manipay. The authorities of CWE have contacted the army regarding this arrest.

On 3/12/2000 during a cordon and search operation at Kottadi, Jaffna young people were subjected to questioning for about 1 ½ hrs. No one was arrested.

A young woman working at a center for human welfare in Vavuniya, was arrested by the army and detained by the 211^th Brigade. A complaint was lodged with the HRC,Vavuniya.

There has been a considerable increase in the arrest of youth after the hero’s week. The parents live in fear. During the 1^st week of December itself the army arrested over 10 young men.

During a cordon and search operation at Maruthanamadam about 14 youth who were getting about their businesses were arrested and taken along Uduvil- Manipay Road.

A young girl of 13 yrs and four young men are detained at Kankesanthurai detention camp.

A business men was abducted from his house at Horawapothana Road Vavuniya, by some people who came in a white van. He was blind folded and taken. Later he was released on the out skirts of Colombo and with injuries on his body he ran to the main road. A lorry diver who was on his way to Colombo, from Vavuniya, identified him and took him to Colombo. Nothing is known of the people who abducted him and how the white van could reach Colombo inspite of the army checkpoints remains a mystery.

207 young men and women were arrested this year alone in Batticaloa. Out of these nothing is heard about 11 of them.. They have disappeared. While they were going to their work places they were arrested.

A young man of 24 years who was a labourer in a mill was going to the mill when he was arrested by S.T.F. He is detained at CDB police unit.

A school teacher Tharmaratnam Sathiyakeerthi (39 yrs) a family man with two children and a 21yr. old student Krishnapillai were arrested by STF. The student is taking up the

G.C.E. O/L Exam this year.

Twelve year old boy-Mohanasundaram Mayuran and a 19 yr. Old young man S. Sudarsan were arrested by STF. The 12 year old is missing.

A young businessman busy trading his goods at the Mannar market was arrested by security forces who came in an armoured car and was taken in for questioning. He was one Palaniappa Wigneswaran (22Yrs) displaced from Mullaitivu. When this young boy’s mother went to the Sri Lanka Army at Mannar they denied arresting him; then she complained to Mr. S. Baskaran of the T.E.L.O. and the latter had written to the officer in charge of the Thalladi Army camp regards this arrest.

The saddest thing about these arrests are the arrests of family men- bread winners of the family that carry on a hand- to- mouth existence.

We quote below the case of such a person. Mr. Amirthalingam Ravi 30 Years old family man was arrested at Nilaveli, Trincomalee on Saturday 19/08/2000. He went to a place called Uppulankulam to cut firewood, which is his livelihood. He is detained at the Trincomalee Police Head quarters.

A mechanic who has shifted to Uvarmalai, Trincomalee to work was arrested. He was earlier working in Jaffna as a mechanic. Due to the on going war he shifted business to Trincomalee.

A G.C.E A/L student in the final year of Pallikudyiruppu Hindu College was arrested by the security forces on 11/6/00. He accompanied his sister to the shop and both of them were stopped at Kattaiparichchan army camp, and the student was arrested for no reason. He was handed over to the police and was detained. This naturally would have had an adverse effect on the student and even destroyed his hopes of sitting the A/L exam and entering University. During a cordon and search operation in Kalmunai the people were disturbed in their sleep at midnight and over the loudspeaker, it was announced that all those who were 8yrs. and over to gather at the cemetery. This ghoulish exercise was a nightmarish experience for the people. Children were kept, there through out the night and sent in the morning.

Sabeskaran (27 Yrs.) was arrested when on his way to Colombo, at a checkpoint at Paddiruppu. He has been working in Negombo since 1990, and had come to his house on leave on 25/1/00. He was kept in custody for 7 days as ordered by the courts. His parents have complained to the Human Rights Commission Kalmunai about his arrest.

Hindu priests who are usually and strictly non-political are also arrested for no rhyme or reason. Even government servants are not exempted from these arrests. Sometimes people are brought out on the roads with their children in pouring rain and checked, and parents sunbathe opposite army camps just to have a glimpse of their off springs hoping for their release. Wellawatte where most Tamils live is constantly under surveillance and search.

68 Tamils who were to go abroad and who had all their documents in order were arrested at the Katunayake Airport. They were to go to various places. Singapore, Moscow and other places seeking jobs and greener pastures. The Attorney General Mr. Kamalasabesan had granted permission for their release. Hon. Batty Weerakone, of the President’s Committee for the unlawful arrests and anti harassment has questioned the CID for arresting those who were within the law.

Following is a list of arrests area- wise: -

To sum up, these arbitrary arrests, detention and instances of torture have only contributed to the dejection and disillusionment of the Tamil youth – their studies ruined, future at stake, they live in fear of going out – even to temples, leave alone sleeping peacefully.

Those arrested are detained for long periods without being produced before a Magistrate. If they are indicted at least they could be bailed out.

1. 5^th June 2000