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The police officers chased Balavarnam Sivakumar, who allegedly had been throwing stones at a train, to the shoreline, where he ran into the sea. Despite his pleas for mercy the officers beat him and refused to let him return to shore.
The video images show how the police officers continued to chase and beat him until he slipped beneath the waves. His body was recovered moments later. Sivakumar, an ethnic Tamil, was described as a skilled mechanic but mentally ill.
While the video images shocked the public, the brutal police behavior comes as no surprise to anyone. It was just a few weeks ago that, not very far from the scene of this incident, two boys were beaten and shot to death at the Angulana Police Station after they were arrested, allegedly, for teasing a woman.
In the last few years the Asian Human Rights Commission has recorded over 1,000 cases of torture in police stations in the south, some of which ended in custodial deaths. Due to the instability and fear in the north and east, it is rare for witnesses to come forward to give evidence in such incidents. Those who do come forward face serious threats to their lives and property as well as their families.
All these cases of torture and the resulting threats have been reported to the relevant government authorities, but they blatantly turn a blind eye. None of the incidents are treated as scandalous and the government does not consider it an obligation to intervene and stop this kind of behavior on the part of the police.
An outside observer may find this surprising and shocking. However, within the country itself, all such behavior is regarded as normal and routine. The public seems to have lost all faith in the possibility of improving this policing system.
In fact, there is no mechanism within the policing system to enforce discipline. The last attempt to improve the system was when the National Police Commission, which was appointed under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, was still functioning. The government later abandoned the institutions created under the 17th Amendment, along with the amendment itself.
Now the police are under the direct control of the executive president of Sri Lanka. But the executive president does not have the capacity to exercise control because, like any other president, he has many other responsibilities. This means, in effect, that no one is in control of the police.
The one who really bears responsibility for incidents like the Bambilipitiya murder, as well as the double murders at the Angulana Police Station and thousands of similar incidents that occur throughout the country, is the executive president himself. The inspector general of police and other high-ranking officers no longer control this institution. These officers survive through their loyalty to the president and by letting the system run according to his political needs.
This means there is no real solution to the lack of police discipline and the resulting brutality. Many people become victims of the system daily. Incidents like the Bambilipitiya murder and the Angulana double murders are just glaring examples that happened to come to public attention.
However, the shock that follows such public revelations does not lead to any resolution of the situation. Just a few weeks ago, the house of a member of Parliament was burned down. Even though he had been in Parliament for over 10 years, his protests did not lead to any police action or justice. It was simply not the wish of the president to ensure such justice.
The core issue – revealed over and over again through all these incidents – is that a system run by a single man leads to failures in all areas of governance. The area of human security and policing is no exception.
In the Angulana incident, the president made a public show of bringing the parents of the murdered boys to the presidential palace and giving them some money. That is the kind of “justice” that takes place in the country now.
The case of Balavarnam Sivakumar will not be any different. It will be remembered only as another shocking incident with no follow-up action in pursuit of justice.
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(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia. His blog can be read at http://srilanka-lawlessness.com.)
