Yesterday (28), the Supreme Court ruled that three officers of the Police Anti-Narcotics Bureau violated the fundamental rights of a citizen by covering their faces with masks over their heads, and hammering their soles and feet with an iron rod, inflicting serious injuries. 

The fundamental rights of these citizens have been violated by the three police officers namely Sub Inspector Lionel Jayaratne, Police Constable 60728 B.P. Sanjeeva and Police Constable 74811 R.A.I Rathugamage of the Police Narcotics Bureau.

Supreme Court judge Arjuna Obeysekera while giving this decision said that every person’s right to equal protection of the law must be respected, human dignity and the rule of law also mean that, even a person accused of a heinous crime or drug trafficking, that right is paramount and must be respected.

Supreme Court Judges S. Thureiraja and Mahinda Samayawardena have expressed their consent with the decision given by judge Arjuna Obeysekera.

Every human being has the right to live in dignity and not be subjected to any torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As the protector of the fundamental rights of all citizens, it is the duty of this court to nurture and protect these rights. 

A special feature of this fundamental rights case is that the Colombo Magistrate drew attention to the police assault on the petitioner at the very beginning when he was presented as a suspect to the Magistrate’s Court. It was also revealed in the fundamental rights trial that the Colombo Chief Magistrate has raised his concerns of this matter and ordered to take legal action against the police officers who assaulted them.

At the time of the incident, the age of the petitioner in this fundamental rights petition was 47 years. He was employed as a three-wheeler driver. Prior to this specific incident, the petitioner had been arrested on several occasions for possession of heroin. The petitioner was indicted in Colombo High Court case No. 841/2002 for possession of 66.9 grams of heroin and was acquitted on March 9, 2012. Once again on June 26, 2011, he was arrested for possessing and trafficking 12.08 grams of heroin and was granted bail in the related case.

According to the bail conditions, he must report to the Grandpass police station on the last Sunday of every month. Accordingly, he has reported to the police station on August 28, 2016 at around 10 am. 

He has came to the Grandpass police station in a three-wheeler driven by another person and went towards Maradana and the petitioner noticed that two motorcycles were following the three-wheeler he was traveling in Orugudawatta area. When the three wheeler stopped near a traffic signal on the road, the first and second respondents in this case, who were dressed in civilian clothes, got off from their motorcycles and entered into this three wheeler in which the petitioner was traveling.

Following this, the two respondents slapped the petitioner and forced him to hand over a weapon he had. It has been stated in the fundamental rights petition that after he declared that he did not have any weapons, the respondents handcuffed the petitioner and  told the driver of the three wheeler to drive towards DR Wijewardena Mawatha, claiming to be from the police.

After that, on a by road, the third respondent police officer was in a double cab in the middle of the road and the respondents pulled the petitioner out of the three wheeler and then stretched him in the middle of the double cab and informed him to give them the drugs. When he said he didn’t have any drugs, the respondents assaulted the petitioner with an iron rod alternately on his soles and heels, due to which he was in severe pain.

Subsequently the petitioner was taken to a playground in Ganemulla in the double cab and the first and second respondents covered the petitioner’s heads with a plastic bag and continuously assaulted the petitioner’s feet with an iron rod. Thereafter, the petitioner was taken to Peliyagoda area where the first and third respondents further assaulted him.

Finally, the petitioner was brought to the Police Anti-Narcotics Bureau at around 9 pm and the petitioner, who was unable to climb the stairs because his feet were swollen due to the assault.  Then the respondents have carried the petitioner up and gave him Siddhalepa to apply on his feet.

The next day at around 3 pm i.e. on 29 August 2016, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court and the Police Narcotics Bureau informed the court that the petitioner was arrested in Orugudawatte with 25 grams of heroin. A detention order was sought from the magistrate for further questioning.

While he was in the Magistrate’s Court, a lawyer named Inoka observed the petitioner’s difficulty in walking and asked the reason for the swelling of his feet and he stated that he had been assaulted by the Police Narcotics Bureau. Then the lawyer took the petitioner to the magistrate’s office and informed the magistrate about the assault. The police officers were then informed to leave the office and the petitioner was questioned about the reason for the leg injury and he told the magistrate everything that had happened since he left the Grandpass police station on August 28.

Accordingly, the Magistrate, who refused to grant the detention order requested by the Police Narcotics Bureau, ordered the petitioner to be remanded and presented to the Forensic Medical Officer by the prison. On August 30, 2016, a forensic medical officer examined the petitioner and gave a report.

This incident has been stated as the cause of his injuries in the report of the forensic medical officer in the medical report. The forensic medical officer recorded his observations and stated that the two legs of the petitioner were seriously injured due to the assault with a blunt weapon.
Also, the forensic medical officer has stated that there are severe soft tissue injuries and the pattern of the injuries is consistent with the statement made by the petitioner.

After the police presented the suspect to the court, he was remanded as stated earlier.  It was also stated that after being presented to the forensic doctor, he was admitted for treatment. 

On September 27, 2016, the third day of the Magistrate’s Court, after observing all this, the Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered an immediate investigation into the attack on the suspect and ordered the police officers who were involved to be arrested and brought before the court.

Following the order a separate B report has been filed in the court about the incident and the progress of the investigation has been informed to the court on several occasions.

However, because the suspect police officers were not prosecuted under the criminal law, after the hearing of this fundamental rights petition on March 7th, the Attorney General filed an indictment against these six respondents in the Colombo High Court on March 28th through a motion last April 1. The Senior Deputy Solicitor General has informed the Supreme Court. The charge sheet was filed under the Torture Act No. 22 of 1994.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the respondent police officers have violated the fundamental rights protected by Article 11 of the constitution. 

Judge Obeysekera also stated in his judgment that human dignity is the basic virtue expected to be protected by securing fundamental rights and the rule of law as indicated in the ‘Savasti’ section of our constitution.

The Supreme Court has stated that the concepts of human dignity and the rule of law demand respect for the right of every person to equal protection of the law. Further the Supreme Court has stated that even if it is related to a serious criminal or a person accused of drug trafficking, that right is paramount and should be respected. It has been held that the conduct of the respondents in this case has deprived the petitioner of his right to equal protection of the law. 
Accordingly, it is held that the fundamental rights protected by Article 12.1 have been violated by the respondents.

Attorney at laws Senani Dayaratne and Nishadi Wickramasinghe appeared for the petitioner and Varuna De Seram appeared for the first, second and third respondents. Senior Deputy Solicitor General Varunika Hettige appeared on behalf of the Attorney General.