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Ministry instructs Police to prevent custodial deaths 

15 Dec 2021

BY Buddhika Samaraweera With several incidents being reported this year and last year of deaths of persons while in police custody, the Public Security Ministry has stated that the Police has been given very clear instructions to prevent such deaths. When questioned by The Morning as to whether the Public Security Ministry has any plans in place to prevent such incidents, Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis told The Morning that the Police has been given very clear instructions regarding the prevention of such incidents. Claiming that most of those who have died while being in police custody were drug addicts, he said, however, that the responsibility of the Police is to look after those in police custody. “We have given very clear instructions to the Police in this regard, but unfortunately a few incidents were reported and all those cases are being looked into in great detail. We will definitely take necessary actions,” he said. The latest such incident was reported on 7 December, where a 37-year-old person who was arrested by the Piliyandala Police on charges of possessing drugs had died, reportedly after swallowing crystal methamphetamine also known as ice. The Police had arrested four persons including the deceased Iresh Udayanga during a raid at Karadiyana on information that they were dealing in narcotics. During the search, the suspect was, according to the Police, found to be in possession of 500 milligrams of ice, Rs. 70,000 cash, and an electronic scale. The suspects were arrested and taken to the Police Station, after which the victim was taken to the District Hospital in Piliyandala by the Police after he became unconscious at the police station. The doctors had then informed that he had swallowed five grams of ice and he was then taken immediately to the Colombo South Kalubowila Teaching Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Furthermore, the Public Security Ministry recently commenced an investigation into the death of a suspect at the Panamura Police Station on 17 November and has suspended and interdicted two police officers who were on duty at the said police station at the time of the suspect’s death. A 37-year-old suspect from Panamura had, according to Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Sarath Weerasekera, died on admission to a hospital on 17 November after hanging himself in the cell where he was being held at the Panamura Police Station. Meanwhile, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne recently charged that the Government is responsible if a person dies in a police station or prison. Be they a murderer, politician, or any other person, if someone dies when they are in police custody or prison, the Government is responsible for such, he said in Parliament last month.  


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