Bindunuwewa revisited

by Justice P.H.K. Kulatilaka

[Part 2]

They were running amok smashing tube lights and breaking windows. The officer further testified that he noticed that the inmates had taken their OIC hostage. He hurried towards the office to inform the Bandarawela Police but he was chased by inmates. Madi Alagan, Nirmal and others attacked him with iron rods. With bleeding injuries he escaped and went to a nearby house.

There had been two policemen at the police post. One officer testified that while he was on duty at the police post around 7 p.m. an inmate attempted to cut him with a sword. He fired two warning shots in the air. He heard them shouting ‘why are you keeping the police here? We are people who have raised our hands to the LTTE. Better we kill these people, take their weapons, go back and join the LTTE’.

The rioters then set upon the police post and badly damaged it. Rajendran testified ‘they attacked the police post and smashed it’. The Police Officer fled and informed the Bandarawela Police. The Commission on its visit to the Centre did observe the damage caused to the police post.

The news spread to the village that the inmates had taken the OIC and his staff as hostages and some villagers gathered at the Vidyapeetaya playground and the main gate.

A posse of policemen led by the HQI arrived at the gate armed with T56 weapons albeit, inmates who were armed with iron rods and clubs did not allow the police to enter. The gate had been closed.

Arrival of the Army

They demanded ‘Only the chief officer can come in, but without weapons’. Surprisingly the HQI ordered his men to retreat from the main gate. By then the HQI had decided to withdraw the police post. He went in accompanied by the OIC of the centre. The inmates threw out what were inside the post including police uniforms with sticks. Thus the police post was withdrawn by the HQI at the behest of the rioters. It was a bad move by the police, an act of betrayal in the eyes of the villagers.

As people gathered in the Vidyadeepa playground refused to move the Police called the army at Diyatalawa.

An Army unit arrived at 9 p.m. Calm prevailed then at the main gate except a few police officers standing outside the gate. They were informed of the presence of villagers in the grounds above. The Army had no difficulty in dispersing the villagers about 40 of them. They went away saying, ‘As you are doing the duty we’ll go away’.

Thereupon the Lieutenant who was in charge met the OIC of the Centre and inquired from him whether he could come inside and speak to the inmates. Surprisingly he told the Lieutenant that he will settle matters with his inmates. The Army did another round around the Centre. Everything appeared normal. Army went back.

Mob attack

The 24th night was a busy night at the Centre.

Inmate Rajendran testified that when he woke up at 11.15 beds were empty and ‘none of the fellows was inside’ he said. They were of laying live wires, collecting clubs, iron rods, spikes and stones. Their OIC and his deputy were under a watch throughout the night by about 15 inmates. The inmates were getting ready for a show-down. Dawn broke through the mist at the centre with a difference. The normal wake up bell was not rung.

The main gate was closed. About 20 inmates were found dispersed opposite the buildings armed with screwdrivers, spanners and iron rods. It was around 6.30 in the morning.

There was a police jeep at the main gate. Nandakumara an employee was permitted to go in but was ordered to come out in 10 minutes. The OIC wanted Nandakumara, to obey the inmates because he too was under ‘their control’. Thus by 7 am the OIC, his deputy and rest of the staff were hostages and the Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre was under the control of the inmates.

Rumours

Around 7 o’clock in the morning people from neighbouring villages started gathering at the main gate, cemetery side and Vidyapeetaya grounds. Rumours had spread in the villages that LTTE detainees were getting ready to attack the villages.

Posters had come up agitating the removal of the Rehabilitation Centre from Bindunuwewa. By 7.30 am at the main gate there were about 700 people demonstrating, calling on the authorities to remove the Centre. A large crowd of about 3,000 people had gathered at Vidyapeetaya playground. There were about 15 vehicles parked inside.

According to the Inspector who was in charge of the situation, around 6.45 am he received information that some people were demonstrating at the main gate and people were gathering at the Vidyadeepa grounds.

After informing the HQI he summoned police parties from five police stations, Uva-Paranagama, Haputale, Ella, Welimada and Diyatalawa. Even though the Inspector had warned the HQI that large crowds were gathering a riot squad from the Bandrawela police station had not been sent. In all there were 63 policemen from different police stations for him to deploy. They were detailed to different positions around the Centre. Seven policemen were detailed at the Vidyadeepa playground. It looked as if the aforesaid Inspector who was the OIC Crimes, Bandarawela police was in charge of the situation.

Vidyapeetaya playground

From the playground which was at a higher elevation the people could clearly see what was happening down below in the Centre. The detainees were spread out shouting all the time. It was around 8.30 am. People from the edge of the ground threw stones at the inmates. The latter in retaliation threw stones at the crowd.

Inmate Rajendran described the scene as follows. ‘I saw when the crowds threw stones our fellows were also getting ready to attack armed with clubs and stones'. The evidence elicited from the police, some villagers witnessing the incidents from the playground and the inmates who were summoned by the Commission all of them spoke to the fact that at this point of time the crowds were getting impatient and boisterous.

Confrontation

In a matter of minutes, the inmates who were spread out formed into an arrow shaped unit and charged towards the crowd who on the spur of the moment were advancing towards the detainees. By this time the crowds too were blinded by rage and had turned into a mob and were armed with clubs and knives.

At that point of time when the detainees and mob were about 30 metres apart facing each other there was a huge explosion. The mob made a hurried retreat. Even the policeman had run for their lives. They thought that the detainees had exploded a bomb.

Very soon it was revealed that the detainees had exploded a gas cylinder. Mobs from all sides invaded the Centre and set upon the inmates. In such tense situations mobs do not act rationally. Obviously they did not know what they were doing. Their language was violent.

The buildings were set on fire. Gun shots were heard. In fact the Commission saw the damage caused to the building where the gas cylinder had been exploded.

According to the OIC of the Centre for all this to happen it did not take more than 10 minutes. According to the HQI Bandarawela Police, he along with the ASP were on their way to Badulla for an inquiry when he picked up a message from an officer which read ‘Mob is invading the Rehabilitation Centre. It is on fire. Send reinforcements’. His position was by the time the ASP and he arrived at the scene damage had been done.

Apparently there was no evidence before the Commission of any preventive action taken by the police.

The identity of the assailants was not established.

The State Counsel and lawyers representing interested parties including the lawyer M.P.A. Vinyagamurthy who opted to testify before the Commission did an in-depth examination of the witnesses including some villagers as well as the police witnesses to discover the identity of the assailants.

Albeit, their efforts were in vain, probably because the mob invaded the crime scene in such large numbers from all sides, identification would have been difficult. Initially the police had arrested 367 villagers as suspects and were later released.

An Army unit from the Diyatalawa camp consisting of 15 soldiers had immediately after receiving information left their camp at 8.45 am. When they arrived at the Centre the buildings were on fire and they had assisted in removing the injured to the hospital. The mob attack on the Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre on October 25, 2000 resulted in the death of 27 inmates and 14 injured detainees. The Commission came to a specific finding that no personnel in the Armed Forces were involved. The Commission had made its recommendations in detail.

Based on the crime investigation carried out by the police 41 accused were brought before a Trial at Bar on 83 counts. Of them only 18 were called upon for their defence. At the conclusion of the trial 13 were acquitted and five were convicted and sentenced. In appeal the Supreme Court [Five Judge Bench] set aside the convictions and sentences and acquitted all.

Bravery of a village damsel

There was the story of a young lady teacher who had bravely saved the lives of two young boys at the risk of her own life. She could not just leave them to die. She picked them up and handed them to two young villagers who carried them to safety. She preferred to remain anonymous. An inmate Uththamanadan recounted how he ran to a policeman and embraced him and how he was protected and rescued by the policeman. That was the sad tale of the Bindunuwewa tragedy.

In conclusion, I recount what the Buddha expounded 2,600 years ago-‘In this world hatred never ceases by hatred. It ceases by love alone. This is an eternal law.

Concluded

The writer is a former Judge of the Court of Appeal and Commissioner Bindunuwewa Commission [March 2001].