It was in January 1994 that Sri Lanka signed the United Nations Convention against inhuman and demeaning treatment. Thereafter a special act relating to torture was passed in Parliament in November 1994 to put into practice the provisions of that Convention.
According to that law, torture is a serious offence punishable with a term of imprisonment not less than seven years and not more than 10. Although it’s a progressive law one wonders whether it was enacted to end torture or simply please the international community?
There is political torture as well as personal. In spite of this resilient law, political torture appears to have increased rather than decreased. This law also does not appear to operate in the case of torture that takes place against opponents of the ruling party especially during election time.
In this context the incident relating to SSP Bandula Wickramasinghe and beautician Yvonne Turner is a glaring example of the violation of the law against inhuman treatment.
Bandula Wickramasinghe is alleged to have taken Ms. Turner into custody on a complaint made by a woman billionaire in connection with the loss of a diamond necklace. The SSP is alleged to have got a detention order from courts charging that the woman had LTTE connections.
Instead of conducting a criminal investigation, she was allegedly stripped and tortured in a most degrading manner.
The terrified woman had fled to Sweden after undergoing treatment in hospital.
She is reported to have informed diplomatic quarters about the incident, as well as President Kumaratunga through a close associate of the President.
Finally the punishment that was meted out to Mr. Wickramasinghe was a transfer to Police Headquarters from the Colombo Detective Bureau. Whatever the criminal code may say, the government seemed to think that subjecting a woman to torture was a minor offence that should carry no greater punishment than a transfer.
This state of affairs is not confined to one particular sphere but has spread to all spheres of life. The gravity of the offence appears to be determined by the extent of the political loyalty of the person concerned. This is not a characteristic of this government alone, the previous government, had it too. Bishop Frank Marcus uses the term ‘evil administration’ to sum up this state of affairs.
Within this evil system, only ruling party members appear to have fundamental rights. It is they who get jobs and it is they who are protected by the police and other institutions that dispose justice. All others appear to be treated as second class citizens.
It is therefore apparent that the country cannot get out of this evil state of affairs without adopting reforms and a system of government that would first and foremost establish the people’s sovereignty. The head of state should be made responsible to the judiciary, Parliament and the people. The judiciary, public service and police service should be depoliticized and there should be an electoral system where people have the right to elect their rulers freely and fairly. It is only through such a process of reform, that the people would be able to view the ethnic problem from a democratic point of view.