The police are responsible for the safety and accountability of those in their custody. If a person dies while he or she in police custody that should be investigated by a separate police unit but it is sad, the same police station that carried out the murder is also conducting investigations on their own, Saliya Peiris, the president of Bar Association of Sri Lanka says.
He also points out that in the incident of the death of a person in police custody, an impartial and independent inquiry should be conduct, but unfortunately such a situation does not exist in Sri Lanka and there is no police unit established in Sri Lanka for that purpose. He emerged that one of the most frequent incidents in the past was the killing of persons in police custody by the police and that we should pay attention to the situation that has arisen in the judiciary process due to this murders.
He recalled that two suspected known as underworld agents were killed in May last year after being handed over them to another police unit from the CID custody, adding that the government has a duty to protect the suspects in government custody. He also recalled that on several occasions the Supreme Court had acknowledged that the police should protect persons in custody.
He was speaking at a discussion held this afternoon (26) on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on the topic of preventing the scourge of torture in the Covid pandemic. This was organized by the Sri Lankan Collective against Torture and the Right to Life Human Rights Center and the discussion was conducted via Zoom.
-Nadeeka Daya Bandara-