Father Nandana Manatunga, Director of the Kandy Human Rights Office says that the government is currently prosecuting cases against torture in a very weak manner and therefore urges the Attorney General to file cases against police officers who do not enforce the law by without filing cases of torture.
He was speaking at a Zoom discussion on yesterday afternoon (27) on the topic of preventing the spread of torture in the Covid pandemic. This event was organized by the Sri Lankan Collective Against Torture and the Right to Life Human Rights Center.
He further said, As the Human Rights Office in Kandy, we have focused on the need to provide protection to victims of torture. We have come to the conclusion that the victims of torture over the years should be taken legal action against all the harm that done to them. They are ready to deal with it.
The Human Rights organization, such as Right to Life, has come forward and has collected data on such incidents and reported them to the Police Commission and the Attorney General. However, the Torture Act No. 22 of 1994 does not allow for prosecution.
Therefore, based on the Right to Information Act, then we asked the Acting Inspector General of Police why not any legal action was taken against torture and why he did not provide information to the Attorney General to enforce the law.
However, the IGP’s reply stated that there were no reports of torture. According to his answer, there was one case in 2015, two cases in 2016 and another two in cases 2018. The acting IGP’s answer is not really acceptable for us. We have informed the Police Commission and the Attorney General about the several incidents of torture. However, the IGP easily states that only a small number of torture cases have been reported in Sri Lanka, like two for per year.
We have obtained the information of the victims and filed cases with the assistance of other human rights organizations. However, the Attorney General should be requested to take legal action against the police officers who do not enforce the law without filing cases of torture as the government is currently prosecuting torture in a very weak manner.
Everyone must work together for this otherwise the government and the attorney general can state that there is no torture in Sri Lanka and there are no any reports of victims. Therefore, I urge civil society organizations to take a keen interest in this issue this year. We make a request that to prosecute the accused under the Prevention of Torture Act No. 22 of 1994.
Nadeeka Daya Bandara