(Pannalawithanage Rajitha is the 21-year-old wife of K. Palitha Tissa Kumara, a Sri Lankan victim of police torture. The interview was conducted on 6 May 2004.)
I understand that the police arrested your husband. Can you describe what happened when he was arrested?
At about 8:30am on February 3, 2004, six police officers (from the Welipenna police station) arrived at our home in a Pajero police vehicle. The driver and S.I. [Sub Inspector] Silva alighted from the vehicle. One of them said to me, "Call Tissa Kumara out, we want him to make a sign for us." [Tissa Kumara is a painter and craftsman by profession.] Therefore, I called for my husband, whom I refer to as Palitha. When Palitha came out S.I. Silva assaulted and kicked him right before my eyes. S.I. Silva also shouted at him in obscene language. Then the police pushed my husband into the back of the police jeep and threw his shirt onto him. When I queried why my husband was being arrested, I was also scolded in obscene language. The police jeep left with Palitha inside.
After that, what did you do?
I, together with my two children and my mother, rushed to the Welipenna police station. We saw Palitha inside the station. He said that he had been assaulted but that he did not know the reason for his arrest. Then a policeman handcuffed him and took him inside the police station (and out of my sight). Thereafter I left (with our youngest infant in my arms) to meet Palitha's employer in Aluthgama. I wanted to tell him of the terrible plight that has befallen Palitha and ask him to help us.
My mother stayed in the police station with my five-year-old son. When I returned in the evening from Aluthgama, my mother told me that she had heard my husband scream in agony from within the police station. After I returned from Aluthgama, I stayed at the police station till evening. The police wanted me to bring my husband a bread roll, some plantains, and a Ginger Beer. I obliged and handed these items over to a policeman. I stayed there till 7pm and then having failed to see my husband, returned home.
When was your husband brought to court?
On February 6, 2004.
What happened from the date of arrest to the day the police brought him to the courts?
On the two days following his arrest, (the 4th and 5th), I visited the Welipenna police station in the morning but was chased away by the police. However the food I took for my husband was accepted. My brother too took food for Palitha, which was also accepted by the police. But none of us were allowed to see Palitha.
On February 5, in desperation, I visited the office of the ASP [Assistant Superintendent of Police] in Kalutara. The ASP who is in charge of the Welipenna police was not present at the time but I told my problem to another ASP. This gentleman gave me a 'chit' to be presented to the Welipenna OIC [Officer in Charge]. Thereafter, I arrived at Welipenna police station and met with the station OIC. The OIC pointed to the accused and told me, "there he is", and I saw my husband lying on the ground and shackled to a bar of a police cell. I think that the OIC was not present at the police station at the time my husband was arrested. In fact the OIC had only come on February 5, the day I met with him.
On the morning of the 6th I again visited the police station, with my children. This time, I was allowed to see my husband. Palitha spoke with me and showed our five-year-old son the injuries he received from the police beatings. He told our son, "Look son, this is what the police did to me."
Can you tell me what Palitha told you about his treatment at the hands of the Welipenna police?
There were several others who had also been arrested along with my husband on suspicion of robbing a boutique nearby. However the others had confessed to their involvement, so they had not incurred the wrath of the police. Palitha refused to confess, as he was not involved. One Sarath had been apprehended on suspicion and had falsely implicated Palitha as revenge (as Sarath had thought Palitha was somehow to blame for Sarath's arrest).
My husband told me that S.I. Silva severely assaulted him, demanding information and shouting, "Give me the bombs, give me the weapons and tell about the robbery." He had been beaten all over his body, especially over the chest and heart. While hitting Palitha on the heart S.I. Silva had remarked, "I am going to kill you." After each beating, Palitha had also been dragged and soaked with cold water. He also said that S.I. Silva had got Sarath, who was a co-suspect in the case for which Palitha was arrested, and who had been suffering from tuberculosis, to spit into my husband's mouth, saying, "You too will be dead within 2 months from today due to TB."
After the spitting incident, another policeman had given Palitha some water with which to rinse his mouth. This same policeman had taken pity on him and given him a mattress to sleep on. However S.I. Silva had subsequently arrived and had taken the mattress away, thus forcing my husband to spend the night on the floor.
After the torture was over, S.I. Silva (also commonly known in their area as 'bomba Silva') had unwrapped a bomb. He ordered Palitha to wet his finger with water and place his fingerprint on the bomb.
What happened on the day your husband was produced before the Magistrates Courts?
On February 6, I together with my two children, my parents, my three brothers and some friends went to the Magistrates Court of Mathugama in the hope that Palitha would be brought to court that day. Then I saw the police van going past the court premises. I later found out that the police had been taking my husband to Weththawe hospital. I do not know what happened at the hospital, but thereafter, my husband had been taken back to the police station. My husband also told me that the police had taken him to two hospitals, but both these hospitals had refused to admit him, as his injuries were so serious.
My family had also retained the services of a lawyer to appear on behalf of my husband and inform the court of the injuries caused to him at the hands of S.I. Silva. This lawyer had made several calls to the police inquiring as to what time Palitha would be brought to court, since he had to attend to some other business in the evening. My family and I waited patiently. Finally Palitha was brought to court only around 5pm, by which time the lawyer had left. The police rushed my husband into court, covered by a cloth. The police chased us away, and prevented us from entering the court. Thereafter, Palitha was taken away by the police. I am not aware of what happened in court. I only know that my husband was further detained.
Tell me what happened after your husband was taken away from court?
I visited Palitha at the Kalutara remand prison every three days. He was treated as some kind of a 'special' remand detainee, segregated from the rest. During his period of remand, he had been taken to the Colombo National Hospital for an X-ray and several medical tests. He had also been operated on for a boil on his buttocks, at the prison hospital. This boil was a result of his assault at the Welipenna police station. I continued to give him Panadol and Siddhalepa [popular local ointment for aches and pains] for his ailments every time I visited the remand prison. I also did this while he was at the police station.
When I visited him on about April 24 he complained of chest pain and of coughing up blood. He also gave me a prescription for certain medicines. He had received the prescription from the prison hospital. The prison hospital had also told Palitha that he might be suffering from tuberculosis when he reported to them that he had been coughing up blood.
I purchased these medicines from a private clinic and sent them to my husband on April 27. On April 29, I met Palitha after he had been taken to the Nagoda hospital, where again he had been treated. He told me that two blood samples and his phlegm had also been taken to be tested at the Nagoda hospital. I visited him again on May 3 but his condition had not changed. I have not yet been able to know the results of these tests. [Since the interview, it has been confirmed that Tissa Kumara has contracted tuberculosis.]
My husband also told me that he had been warded at the prison hospital ever since he started coughing blood with his saliva and complained of chest pains. Since then, he has been confined to a secluded room [formerly reserved for chickenpox patients] and for all intents and purposes, kept in isolation. Even his food is passed to him from under the door.
Can you please tell me how all this has affected your family?
As I told you before, I have two little sons. At the time of the arrest, the eldest was five years and the infant was nine months old. I am breastfeeding the little one. My husband was a talented artisan. He worked for an employer in Aluthgama as well as in several other places, including Galle & Matara. He usually worked away from home every other week, while during the intervening weeks he spent time at home. The income he earned from his work was adequate to maintain our little family. I do not go to work and do not have an income of my own. I looked after my two children at home. After my husband's arrest, I had to move in with my parents. My father sells betel leaves for a living, and with this meagre income he now supports my children and myself. Though I have three brothers and one sister, they are not in a position to help me financially.
On the morning of February 6, the day Palitha was produced in court, I visited him together with my two sons. Then my husband showed our five-year-old son the injuries on his arms, ears and back, incurred at the hands of S.I. Silva, saying, "Look son, this is what the police did to me." After my eldest son saw his father's injuries, he cried incessantly and began to limp. Over the next few days, his limp advanced and finally he was unable to walk. His crying too was uncontainable. Thus I took the child to a private doctor, who said that there was an illness going around that affected children. Hence on February 8, I got scared and took my child to Nagoda hospital. There the child was admitted and kept under observation for two days. But when we told the hospital medical staff that the child's father had been arrested a few days earlier, they told me that the most probable reason for the child's symptoms was mental trauma. After two days they discharged the child from hospital. Now he appears to be all right. He seems to have got over the initial trauma and has come to terms with the absence of his father. However, his school attendance is disrupted every time he has to accompany me to visit his father.
My problems do not end there. My infant son had developed a hernia prior to my husband's arrest. I had been asked to bring the child to hospital on February 16, most probably for a hernia operation. However, due to all these problems and my present state of mind, I did not do so. Then in March the child's condition became worse and he started vomiting and crying. I then rushed him to hospital in a three-wheeler. The child was admitted and surgery was performed to remove the hernia on March 16. He was discharged from hospital after three days. The infant now needs further surgery for another physiological problem. But I am postponing attending to it and hope it can wait until all these problems are over.
Now your husband's plight has been given fairly wide publicity. To your knowledge, has anyone in authority visited your husband in remand as of yet and inquired into his present illness or complaints?
No, not to my knowledge.
