Actg. IGP Deshabandu Tennekoon convicted by Supreme Court as a torturer
(COLOMBO) – The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) on Wednesday said that no officer packing allegations of involvement in unlawful activity should be appointed as the country’s Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The BASL said in a statement that the appointment of the IGP should be done in a transparent manner so as to create public confidence in the process.
The BASL was reacting to a recent Supreme Court ruling that ordered the present Actg. IGP Dehabandu Tennakoon and three other officers to pay compensation out of their personal funds to a petitioner for violating his fundamental rights.
The BASL maintained that the appointment of an IGP should be an officer whose service in the Police Department is exemplary and free of any blemish and able to restore public confidence in the Sri Lanka Police.
Tennakoon along with four other officers was recently found guilty by the court for torturing a suspect who had been arrested for suspected theft and the group was ordered to pay compensation from their own pocket to the victim.
The court was told that Tennakoon had stripped the victim naked and later whipped him with a rubber hose and forced the man to apply a stinging locally produced balm on his genitals.
Tennakoon was the Police Superintendent (SP) for that particular area at that time.
Not only that the court also directed the National Police Commission to carry out a thorough investigation into the allegations made against Tennakoon and the others at the very earliest.
Earlier the BASL also took on Tennakoon’s boss, Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles over remarks that bordered a ‘license to kill’ policy of suspected drug offenders and other crime operatives in the country.
Minister Alles at a recent police community meeting warned all underworld and drug operatives to surrender or face death by police ahead of a special anti-vice and crime operation that was launched throughout the island late last week.
First to condemn the remarks was the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Attorney Kaushalya Nawaratne who said it was a very serious statement made by the country’s Public Security Minister who called on the eliminating of underworld and drug operatives on sight.
Nawaratne was also furious at the Minister’s remarks on lawyers who appear for drug barons.
It is an accepted practice that lawyers in the nature of their profession could appear for any suspect, he said
His concerns were echoed by the ex-BASL President Saliya Pieris who said that the encouragement of extra judicial killings by any Minister or official cannot be condoned.
