Sri Lanka Police Force, Protectors Or Predators?
Chandra Kumarage
It was reported in the media that a police constable and his wife were killed by unidentified persons in the Southern Province. It was also reported later that one of the suspects of that crime nabbed by the police when taken in handcuffed to recover some productions was shot dead by the police when he allegedly picked a bomb and tried to hurl it towards the police officers. A fourth and the last suspect Ketayam Chinthaka also died under same circumstances, when taken in custody in hand cuffs to show productions. But what is stranger than fiction is that two other suspects in the same murder case were drowned in a nearby lake whilst attempting to escape from custody, by swimming for safety in hand cuffs. The latest fable is much more surreal and Incredible, Aesop’s fables vanish into thin air compared to these fables a la the Police Department of Sri Lanka. Very funny isn’t it?
Conversely if these fables are to be believed one tends to question the competence of the police force to give protection to the general public, investigate crimes, and guarantee the protection of the lives of persons in their custody. It is common knowledge that killing of alleged suspects immediately after assassination of someone will prevent the mystery of the murder being solved and the identifying of the other assailants and/or abettors if any. Soon after President Kennedy was shot dead the identified suspect Lee Harvie Oswald was also killed as a result of which President Kennedy’s killing remains an unsolved crime up to the present time.
In a report submitted to Parliament by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry Defence, Law and Order in December 2009 the number of persons died in police custody from December 2005 till September 2009 had been 91 out of which 49 persons had died of the same cause namely, ‘when the suspect was taken out to recover hidden weapons he suddenly grabbed a bomb which was hidden at the spot and tried to throw it at the officers and the police officers had to shoot and kill him in the exercise of the right of private defence. According to a news report this modus operandi of shooting suspects when they were taken to discover hidden weapons has been recurring without the police top brass or the executives in charge of the police force taking any preventive action whatsoever. The killings at Kamburupitiya may not be the last such killings.
