Caught
in the crossfire
From one perspective, the case of Yogalingam Vijitha, formerly
detained at the Remand Prison, Negombo is yet another "commonplace"
torture case.
For those complacent
souls living in the South, it would be no matter to shrug our shoulders
and pass the case bye.
Yet, all aspects
of what happened to this unfortunate woman make this a classic tracing
of how easy it once was in Sri Lanka to subvert laws meant to contain
"terrorists" in order to pay off personal scores and how
vulnerable ordinary civilians and specially women can be, when caught
in the crossfire.
For those of
us still claiming to possess a conscience therefore, the case is
of special interest.
Yogalingam
Vijitha had entered into an arranged marriage at Vavuniya between
her and an individual called Maheswaran alias Babu, living in Negombo.
Subsequently,
after learning that her husband was already a married man with two
children, she had refused to go through the customary Hindu marriage
and to live with him as husband and wife. Maheswaran then commenced
to harass her, consequent to which she had left home and proceeded
to stay with her aunt in Trincomalee.
Significantly
thereafter, she had received a number of phone calls from him, threatening
that unless she returned to Negombo and lived with him, he would
use his influence with the Negombo Police, have her arrested as
a member of the LTTE suicide squad and have her tortured.
This was a threat
which was a forerunner to a series of amazingly subversive events.
On the 21st
of June, 2000 when coming out of the People's Bank, Trincomalee,
she had been accosted by a group (later identified to be policemen)
in civilian clothes headed by a Reserve Sub Inspector of the Negombo
police station. She was arrested, hand cuffed and then taken to
Negombo. There, she was first put into a garage and the police,
after accusing her of being a LTTE suicide bomber, had assaulted
her knees, chest, abdomen and back, with a club, causing her unbearable
pain.
Some four hours
thereafter, she was put into a cell at the Negombo Police Station
and detained for five days under a detention order issued in terms
of Regulation 19 (2) of the Emergency Regulation.
It is during
this time, that she was subjected to torture of a barbarity that
we should now be accustomed to hearing about.
Her face was
covered with a shopping bag containing chilli powder mixed in petrol,
suffocating her. She was made to lie flat on a table and whilst
four policemen were holding her, four other policemen had pricked
paper pins under the nails of the fingers and toes. She was assaulted
with a club and wires and when she fell down, she was trampled with
boots on.
On another occasion,
she was hung and assaulted with a club.
Most heinously,
when she had refused to sign statements prepared by the police,
a plantain flower soaked in chilli powder had been introduced into
her vagina.
Being unable
to bear the torture, she had signed the statements which were neither
read nor explained to her.
She was then
transferred to the Terrorist Investigation Division where she was
further assaulted. It was only on the 21st of September that she
was remanded under Section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act
at the Negombo Remand Prison. By that time, she was suffering from
extreme physical and psychological stress and was unable to function
as a normal human being.
In late August
this year, the Supreme Court in this country, after considering
Yogalingam Vijitha's case, (while she was yet in remand), ruled
that there had been a grievous violation of her fundamental rights
under Article 13(1), (2) and Article 11 relating to freedom from
unlawful arrest and freedom from torture. In the judgement of DPS
Gunesekera J. ( with whom Justices M.D.H. Fernando and Ameer Ismail
agreed),
"As Athukorala
J in Sudath Silva Vs Kodituwakku 1987 2 SLR 119 observed 'the facts
of this case has revealed disturbing features regarding third degree
methods adopted by certain police officers on suspects held in police
custody.
Such methods
can only be described as barbaric, savage and inhuman.
They are most
revolting and offend one's sense of human decency and dignity particularly
at the present time when every endeavor is being made to promote
and protect human rights".
While there
had not been a shred of evidence to support her arrest on suspicion
that she was an LTTE member, the torture that she had been subjected
to was corroborated by independent medical testimony even though
the medical examination that she was subjected to while in police
custody was severely tainted and discounted for that reason. The
Court awarded a sum of Rs.250,000/- to be paid as compensation and
costs to Yogalingam Vijitha out of which Rs. 150,000/- was to be
paid personally by the involved police officers of the Negombo Police
Station and the balance Rs. 100,000/-by the State.
Crucially, the
Attorney General was directed to consider taking steps under the
Convention Against Torture and other cruel, Inhuman or degrading
Treatment Or Punishment Act No. 22 of 1994 against the concerned
police officers and any others who are responsible for the acts
of torture perpetrated on Yogalingam Vijtha.
The latter direction
by the Court is important for many reasons.
Yogalingam Vijitha's
case is undoubtedly only one of similar cases that are legion through
the decades that this country has been in conflict.
We still wait
for the day when Act No 22 of 1994 is used effectively against police
torturers, justifying the passionate hopes with which it was enacted.
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