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| Sunday, 16 November 2003 |
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HR body to probe conduct of Kandy co-ordinator by P.Krishnaswamy The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will shortly begin inquiries against its Kandy co-ordinator, Nirajan Sumanasekara, on allegations made by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) based in Hong Kong, led by Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando and several other local human rights organisations, including the Janasansadaya. The AHRC and the other HR organisations have accused Sumanasekara of acting contrary to the interests of the NHRC by being in 'close co-existence with police torture perpetrators'. On November 6, they staged a protest demonstration in front of the NHRC headquaraters in Colombo, demanding the 'immediate discontinuation of the services of Sumanasekera' and handed over a petition to NHRC chairperson, Radhika Coomaraswamy. NHRC Director (Investigations and Inquiries), Nimal Punchihewa, told the Sunday Observer that the Commission had already given the terms of reference and was holding an inquiry against Mr. Sumanasekara on the allegations levelled against him. He said the inquiries would be conducted shortly by NHRC lawyer Thusitha Hallaluwa. NHRC sources said that although the HR organisations involved were 'exerting tremendous pressure on the NHRC, demanding the dismissal of the Kandy co-ordinator, they would not resort to such drastic action without holding a proper inquiry considering the fact that the co-ordinator had been working for over 11 years without any such complaints. One specific complaint of the HR organisations was that a 17 year old boy, Chamila Bandara, was severely assaulted by the Ankumbura police and, as a result, had lost the use of his left arm. They accused the Kandy co-ordinator of filing a false report on this case, instead of helping the victim. An officer of the Ankumbura police said that Chamila Bandara along with 6 others were arresdted on July 26, 2003, on burglary charges, and produced before the Kandy Magistrate the following day, who remanded and released them on July 30. There were three other cases against Chamila for 'house-breaking', the officer said. After the arrest of the seven suspects, the police were able to solve 16 house-breaking cases involving the suspects and recover valuables including gold chains, he said. He also said that allegations about the suspect being assaulted and tortured were untrue and claiamed that the suspect had personally appeared before courts on October 26, but had not appeared for the hearing on October 29 and instead sent an MC. Separate investigations on allegations of torture and assault by the police are also being conducted, NHRC Director said. A statessment by Chamila Bandara has been recorded by the NHRC, he said. The AHRC complained to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva about the alleged torture of Chamila Bandara. However, the HR Committee did not take up the issue on October 30 as three separate inquiries by the NHRC, the Police Commission and the Police Department were pending here. |
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