The Prisoners’ Rights Protection Committee submitted a letter to the IGP today morning (28) questioning whether Vijaya Kumar Pragash Nirmanandan and Ashoka Lakmal, who were arrested in Magampura by the Kotahena and Grandpass police and taken to crow Island to show weapons, were in accordance with the guidelines of the SC FR 2008/398 case. Pragash Nirmanandan and Ashoka Lakmal were arrested and shot dead on suspicion of the shooting to death of Shashi Kumar, a mobile phone shop owner in Kotahena Colombo 13. The Prisoners’ Rights Protection Committee, alleges that the guidelines approved by the Supreme Court were ignored in the Kotahena incident and has stated in the letter submitted to the IGP that the police have acted in contempt of court by disregard of the Supreme Court guidelines.

According to the Supreme Court guidelines, was an Assistant Superintendent of Police in charge of the Colombo District informed and received the necessary instructions before taking a suspect out? When the police took the suspects to show hidden weapons, were maces placed on their hands? Was the operation to show the weapons videotaped? The IGP should explain to the public that he acted in accordance with the guidelines. Also, if police officers took action for their own self-defense, they should have done so after following these guidelines because we have seen how the police and police STF arbitrarily killed suspects arrested by them under previous governments, it has been stated in the letter.

The event was attended by the Executive Director of the Prisoners’ Rights Protection Committee, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera, the Chairman of the Prisoners’ Rights Protection Committee, Sudesh Nandimal, Attorney-at-Law Srinath Perera and Attorney-at-Law Achala Seneviratne.

Before handing over the letter to the police headquarters, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera expressed his views as follows.

We came to the police headquarters to question the killing of two suspects who were in police custody in Kotahena on the 21 of February 2025. In the past, we have seen incidents in the police where suspects were killed after taking to show weapons and accused of trying to shoot with a weapon. The Kotahena incident is one such incident. The IGP said that two arrested individuals were taken away in this manner and shot in self-defense by police officers when the suspects tried to shoot them. We can remember many facts here. There is a law in this country. There are fundamental rights in the Constitution. There are rights of people in the Criminal Procedure Code, there are rights under the Torture Act. More importantly, the Supreme Court has issued a set of guidelines on how the police should act in such situations. In the case of 398/2008, the Supreme Court has said how to act in such situations. We highlighted some of the points in those guidelines in the letter submitted to the IGP. In this incident, we asked the IGP whether the suspects were videotaped when they were taken to show their weapons. We asked if it happened under the supervision of a senior superintendent of police. Were these people taken to show their weapons with handcuffs? If the police have not acted accordingly, they have also insulted the judiciary. The law of this country has been blatantly violated. The police cannot punish individuals. Only a judicial system can punish suspects after court proceedings. 

We await a clear response from the IGP in this regard. Tomorrow, we must say that the lives of those arrested by the police in this country will be protected. That is the promise we have come to take. Further recently, a person named Indika Prabath was arrested in Ahungalla and taken out to show weapons and killed, accusing him of trying to shoot at the police. The police presented their defense that they shot in self-defense. The Balapitiya Magistrate ruled that it was not a murder committed in self-defense but a deliberate act. The police would be excited regarding these matters, but it is very easy to prove these are crimes in the court.