Stop torture now

Monday, 3 October 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A PERSON dying in Police custody is a grave crime, more so because the Police is expected to protect civilians even if they have done wrong and let the law punish them, rather than taking the law into its own hands.

Dompe was the scene of the latest unrest. It will be remembered by readers that a Katunayake Free Trade Zone worker also died at the hands of the Police only a few months ago. The circumstances were vastly different but the involvement of the Police in both instances does not increase its reputation.

Torture is a common problem in the local Police. It is a weapon openly used on suspects and has resulted in the Police losing respect and instead gaining fear. One might argue that the Police must inspire fear to get the job done, especially in an environment of increasing crime. However, it leaves the question of what will happen if a suspect is killed in the process, or an innocent party is punished because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a multitude of ways that torture can create tension and make people lose lives. It cannot be tolerated or justified under any circumstances and is a terrible reflection of the brutality of a society that permits it.

Such extreme action provokes an extreme reaction. The 3,000 odd people who gathered outside the Dompe Police Station were angry enough to set fire to the Police Station as well as chase off the firefighters who came to douse the flames, sending a clear signal that they would not tolerate the use of torture and abuse of power. For that was what it was, in very simple terms. Neither is this the first time that such an incident has taken place. There has been an alarming increase of assaults on the Police, showing that the people have had enough and they want justice from those appointed to protect them — not fear.

One of the outcomes was that the entire staff of the Dompe Police Station has been transferred. But this is clearly not the answer. They can be free to continue or participate in other torture carried out in other Police stations. This is not to say that all Policemen or Police stations are bad, but that the use of torture has almost been normalised in Sri Lanka and it is this root that must be attacked.

Newspaper reports over the weekend carried quotes from unnamed “top Police officials” as to how they were baffled by the fact that the Dompe Police could not contain the crowd with the use of tear gas. But the real question should be why they allegedly tortured a 28-year-old man for the possible theft of a water pump. Was this a heinous crime that required such tough measures or was it yet another instance of how brutal the Police has become? Moreover, the people would not have rioted if the Police simply did its job properly.

Surely the time has come to stop torture by the Police for good. As the Government keeps saying, Sri Lanka is on the threshold of prosperity. Yet there cannot be true development unless it is equitable and upholds basic rights such as freedom from torture and the right to justice.