Kandy: 'Everyone must know that the police tortured me', says victim
The Human Rights Office organised an event to support the victims of torture. One of them, Ms H. M. Podikumarihami, recounted her family’s fate. The police wanted her land and, to get it, were willing to press false charges and torture her.
Kandy (AsiaNews) – "I do not ask anything for me. I just want some consolation and that the whole world know that I was tortured by the police,” said H. M. Podikumarihami, a 50-year-old Buddhist woman.
On 29 June, she participated at an event organised by the Human Rights Office at the Kandyan Arts Residency in Kandy on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
On this occasion, the mother of five found the courage to tell in public her sad personal story, one of such physical and psychological violence that it moved the audience.
Among those present were Deepika Udugama, president of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission; the Ven Atipola Mangala Thero; lawyer Titus Manatunga; and Namalika Dissanayake, director of the Blue Rose School for Special Needs.
Fr Nandana Manatunga, director of Kandy's Human Rights Office, and Suren Perera, the organization's lawyer, served as moderators.
Ms Podikumarihami lives in Poojanagaraya, Mahiyangana, a town in Badulla district, where she owns some land. She sells coconuts, betel leaves, corn and peanuts. This allows her to feed her whole family.
She can neither read nor write but is intelligent and has a good memory. Her children are aged 28, 23, 21, 19 and 13. She said her misfortunes all came from that little piece of land where she and her kids can survive.
In 2006 police officers from Mahiyangana "set their sights" on her land to develop it as an illegal sand quarry, as they did with other properties in the area. Podikumarihami, however, refused to give up the land and so the agents fabricated false accusations against her and her children, saying that they dealt in drugs.
The situation precipitated on 17 August 2017, when the police come to her home to arrest her daughter Chamila Malkanthi. She tried to stop the agents who reacted violently.
"The police chief threw me on the ground and kicked me in the stomach, chest and arms. When I knelt down in front of him begging him not to take my daughter on false accusations, he kicked me on the back while two other officers were pulling me by the hair and banging my head against the wall. "
A few days later, on 20 August, she was summoned to the station and warned against reporting the violent incident. Despite the threats, she turned to the Human Rights Commission.
Later, in October, the agents took their revenge by torturing one of her sons. Because of the injuries he sustained, the young man spent several days in hospital.
Fr Nandana Manatunga noted that "the kid does not use drugs; yet the police took him to the station like he was some kind of a drug addict. Then people complain if some young people like him, exasperated by false accusations and harassment, turn violent."
Podikumarihami knows that she is a victim and decided to tell her story to denounce the complicity of the justice system, which refused to act against the police because the local magistrate, Ms Thushani Thenabadu, is married to one of the agents involved.
Among other things, instead of protecting her, the court jailed her for 14 days for contempt of court since she did not wear white clothes in deference to the court during the hearing.
The priest added that "the actions of the police have jeopardised the safety of Podikumarihami and her family, violating their right to peace, security and dignity.” Such actions “have had a negative impact on the education of one of her children and compromised her ability to work and earn a living for her family."
At the end of the meeting, participants issued a statement calling on the Sri Lanka government to ensure effective protection for the family against reprisals from members of the police and their friends; to withdraw the charges against them; to ensure an effective investigation and provide clear information on its progress; to incriminate those responsible and bring them to justice; and to investigate the many cases of accusations made by the police for the sole purpose of threatening, intimidating and obtaining false arrests.
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04/07/2016 17:49
