(COLOMBO) – Doctors at a Government-operated hospital in Sri Lanka were on Wednesday forced to surgically remove the testicle of a 23-year-old man following alleged police brutality, officials said on Thursday.
They said the surgery took place at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital some 200-plus kilometers from the commercial capital of Colombo.
Local media quoted the victim as saying that he was trussed up, handcuffed and later assaulted by six policemen following a traffic incident.
After being subject to a scan test, the doctors said that a testicle had been affected by internal hemorrhage and a surgery was needed to remove the affected organ.
However the officer in Charge (OIC) of the Medawachchiya Police Station Chief Inspector R.M.I.B. Ratnayake said the man was driving a mini lorry and opted to ignore a halt order at a police check point and was subsequently arrested.
It was later found out that the man was under the influence of liquor and had allegedly resisted arrest for a serious traffic offence, CI Ratnayake was quoted as saying.
Ratnayake also claimed that the man was not in possession of a valid driving license at the time of the arrest and denied allegations that the police had assaulted him.
Local rights groups and the legal fraternity has raised serious concern over a recent uptick of police brutality in the island-nation and claimed that some nine custodial deaths had taken place from the start of this year.
