Tiran’s and Deshabandu’s ‘Yukthiya’ slammed as “operation of injustice”
The controversial anti-narcotics operation launched by Sri Lanka’s Police Chief has come under fire for apparent human rights abuses.
Deshabandu Tennakoon, who after being appointed acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) immediately started ‘Operation Yukthiya’, had also been found guilty of torturing suspects within Mirihana police station.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) criticised the appointment of the Acting IGP noting that he should never have been appointed due to him having breached Fundamental rights. The guilty conviction for torturing several detainees came two weeks after his appointment.
Decried as “an operation of injustice” by leading prison rights activist Sudesh Nandimal Silva from Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners. In his first press briefing of the year he strongly criticised ‘Operation Yukthiya’ (Operation Justice) under which serious human rights abuses are being carried out including wrongful arrests.
“People are arrested without any reason, drugs are planted and people are imprisoned. On the other hand, prisons are packed. The prisons are so overcrowded that inmates are even unable to sleep. They don’t even get proper meals. This is the result of this unjust operation.” said Sudesh Nandimal.
Under the operation, over 20,000 arrests have been made since the 17th of December. Some arrests were accused by the activist to be the result of police officers planting drugs on suspects and sending them to prisons on false charges.
Sri Lanka, a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1980 is duty bound for accountability when the state wrongfully details a suspect of fabricated charges.
A government study in 2021 acknowledged, ‘it is clear that the prison population is growing continuously’. The Department of Prisons found that overcrowding in Kegalle was 511 percent, whilst in Colombo Remand Prison it was 443 percent. Such overcrowding can only present more problems in terms of prison rights, which are known as the Nelson Mandela Rules (a set of rules adopted by the United Nations General Assembly which Sri Lanka is also a part of).
A report by the Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission (HRCSL) report on Prisons says overcrowding led to inmates being forced to live like “[packing] sardines.”
Overcrowding in prisons has been an unresolved issue for over a decade now according to the government study. It only decreased to 148.6 percent in 2016 but steadily increased after that to 248.7 percent overall in 2020.
Lack of coordination between government departments has led to overcrowding in prisons and the miseries of the prisoners.
Ministry of Public Security justified rights abuses through overcrowding. “We cannot stop apprehending the suspects”. It is the duty of the prisons affairs minister to manage the overcrowding he adds.
A report by the HRCSL in 2020 brought out the human rights abuses due to overcrowding in prisons saying it leads to violence with extreme consequences.
“Prison officers are not trained in restraining disruptive prisoners in accordance with human rights standards and would instead resort to the use of physical force to maintain order and this would also enable prisoners themselves to respond in a similar manner.”
Tiran Alles has sought public support for his “war against drugs” saying its success hinges on their support and the media. He equated his action to that during the war time and a similar rhetoric was espoused during COVID when the military were handed the job of dealing with the pandemic despite criticism against such action by human rights organizations such as the United Nations.
“Just as there was collective support for the security forces during the war, a similar unity is crucial now”.
