Two-member committee to investigate Jaffna police shooting

The Police Commission yesterday deployed a two-member committee, which will include Public Complaints Division Additional Director Ananda Wijesuriya, to investigate the police shooting which recently occurred in Jaffna, Police Commission Secretary Ariyadasa Cooray said.

He also stressed that the Police did not have the authority to shoot an unarmed person for disobeying orders to stop a vehicle.

“The Police cannot shoot any unarmed person for any matter until they are proven guilty. Police can shoot only if a suspect escapes custody,” he said.

However, Cooray said that it was also the responsibility of the motorists to cooperate and comply with the orders of the Police.  Although a two-member team has been deployed to investigate the incident where two undergraduates, Vijayakumar Sulakshan (24) and Nadaraja Kajan (23), were shot by policemen on duty on Friday morning while travelling on a motorcycle, the commission has no power to take action against the wrongdoers as it is beyond the mandate of the Police Commission. 

Only the Inspector General of Police has the authority to take action against them, Cooray told Daily FT. 

Five policemen who were on duty in the area on Thursday night have already been arrested and have been remanded in Anuradhapura Prison until 4 November.

Hundreds of Jaffna University students staged a peaceful protest yesterday demanding justice for the two dead students 

– Pic by N. Parameswaran