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Female activist to complain to HRCSL about interrogation

03 Jan 2022

BY Pamodi Waravita United National Society for Self-Employed Trade National Organiser Asha Dilrukshi Perera said yesterday (2) that she plans to lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) regarding the treatment she received at the Criminal Investigation Department over the weekend, when she was taken to give a statement for allegedly sharing a post that “insulted and threatened the life of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa”. “On 1 Saturday, about 10 to 15 officers came to my office in a white van, where I work with disabled children. Some were dressed in normal clothes and some were dressed in professional clothes. There was one lady officer among them. They said they need to see my phone regarding a social media post. I asked why and they said that I had insulted the President. I inquired as to how they could see my phone and they asked me to come with them to the CID. I asked them to give me a time to come there. They refused. I called my lawyer and he wanted to speak to the officers, but they again refused to speak to him or to answer his questions as to why I was being taken.” Perera added that she was kept at the CID for over five hours. “I went to the CID with them coming behind me. They kept me there from 11 in the morning till about 4.30 in the evening. They told me that the post could threaten the President’s life. It was not a post I had created – it was just one I had shared about somebody hooting at the President. They asked whether I had shared it responsibly. They copied everything in my phone and kept my phone with them for about two hours. I returned at 7.30 in the night with my lawyer to take my phone back. I hope to file a complaint at the HRCSL regarding this,” Perera told The Morning yesterday (2). The officers had said they would “follow up” on her, said Perera. Speaking to The Morning, the organisation’s President, Pradeep Charles, questioned whether the authorities were targeting their organisation as they have been speaking up against the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-related explosions that have been occurring around the country over the past year and demanding accountability on the matter. Following Western Province Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon’s statement last month that over 800 domestic LPG cylinder-related incidents were reported as of mid-December 2021, with seven deaths and 16 injuries, the Presidential Expert Committee appointed to investigate the recent LPG-related explosions blamed the increase in the propane ratio for the explosions. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) in December conducted a hearing concerning Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. and a husband who had filed a complaint regarding the matter of his wife becoming a victim of a LPG cylinder-related explosion and having sustained injuries from the incident earlier this month. “We see this as a violation of Asha’s human rights. So many thousands of people had shared this post – why was she the only one who was taken to the CID,” questioned Charles. Last week, a number of visual media reported that although queues had consistently been present at a dairy milk outlet in Nugegoda for a number of days due to the ongoing milk powder shortage in the country, last Thursday (30 December 2021), consumers had been told that products will be given on a token basis to them. Media reports show consumers speculating whether the Police had instructed the outlet to not keep consumers in queues outside of it as the President passes the outlet. There are claims that last Wednesday (29 December 2021), consumers had hooted at the President’s vehicles which had passed by the outlet.


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