HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA, Annual Report 2019
punishment being inflicted on students even for disciplinary purposes
and concluded that article 11 of the Constitution had been violated. The
Commission recommended disciplinary action be taken against the 1st,
2nd and 3rd respondents by the Ministry of Education and further
recommended the Secretary to the Ministry to take necessary action to
raise awareness among schools on the content of the above circulars.
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Torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in police
custody (Complaint No: HRC/AP/258/2016)
In this case, the Commission concluded that the victim’s rights under
article 11 of the Constitution has been violated and directed the
respondents to pay Rs. 5000/= each as compensation to the victim. The
Commission did not find a violation of Article 13(1) of the Constitution in
the procedure followed leading to the arrest of the complainant by the
Polonnaruwa police. Torture had allegedly been inflicted on the
complainant subsequently in order to extract a confession from him to a
theft of a machine belonging to a person attached to the Faculty of Science
of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. The HRCSL, supported by medical
evidence contained in the JMO’s report, found that the “abrasion of 4cm x
3cm on the back of the chest, an abrated contusion of 10cm x 1cm on the
inner aspect of the left wrist joint and an abrasion of 4cm x 1cm on the
inner aspect of the right wrist joint” were caused by handcuffs. Evidence
revealed that the police had not followed the directives contained in the
Departmental Standing Order 20(3) in relation to using handcuffs on a
suspect. Further, the Commission recommended the IGP to take
disciplinary action against the respondents and the IGP and the Attorney
General to institute criminal proceedings against them.
3.2.2. Equality and Non-discrimination (Article 12 of
the Constitution)
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Permanent disability pension of a former military officer
(Complaint No: HRC/K/385/15)
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