Discharged alleged suicide bomber seeks Rs 5m redress
By S.S. Selvanayagam
The Supreme Court yesterday (19) granted leave to proceed with the Fundamental Rights violation petition filed by a Tamil Relief Announcer of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) who was arrested and detained on the eve of a conference on World Press Freedom Day at BMICH.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justices Nihal Jayasinghe and Shiranee Tilakawardena, granted leave for the alleged infringement of the Petitioner’s right to equality and equal protection of the law and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
The matter was listed for September 29.
Aggrieved Tamil Relief Announcer Ms Sivanathan Sivaramya (26) is seeking an order from Court for a compensation of Rs 5 million. She cited BMICH Police Post Chief Inspector Nimal, OIC Cinnamon Gardens Police Inspector Perera, the IGP, the Attorney General, SLBC, its Chairman, Sunil Sarath Perera and D.S. Senanayake College Principal Ashoka Senani Hewage, as Respondents.
Counsel V.S. Ganeshalingam, with Eugene Mariampillai, appeared for the Petitioner, a relief announcer at the SLBC as well as a volunteer teacher at D.S. Senanayake College, Borella, at the time of her arrest.
On May 1st this year, she went to the BMICH, to attend the UNESCO sponsored conference to mark World Press Freedom Day, where the guest of honour was Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera.
At 9.30 a.m. she produced her Identity Cards issued by the Director of Government Information and the SLBC at the main entrance. The police on duty examined them and permitted her to proceed. At the entrance to the building too, her Identity Cards were examined by the police and she was permitted to proceed to the 1st floor.
At the 1st floor counter, she was asked for her invitation, which she said she hadn’t, she was asked for her Identity Cards which were examined and permitted to proceed to the hall. At the entrance of the hall, where the conference was in sessions, a person asked her for her invitation which she replied she hadn’t. Then she was told that she cannot enter the hall.
She returned to the 1st floor counter and informed them about this. She was told that she could proceed upstairs and one of them was about to escort her upstairs, when the persons who asked for her invitation card, came to the counter and said that she cannot be permitted to attend the conference and added something in Sinhala which she could not follow.
She gave up the intention of attending the conference and decided to get back and was coming down the stairs, when the persons who refused to admit her to the hall, followed her to the police post on the ground floor and said something in Sinhala and she was detained there.
She was extensively interrogated there. She told them that she was a Relief Announcer at the SLBC and a volunteer teacher at D.S. Senanayake College, Borella. She also told them that her father was a lawyer working for a human rights organization in Colombo and that her uncle was a retired senior public servant, who served as advisor to past Presidents.
However, she was put into a jeep and taken to Cinnamon Gardens Police Station and detained there. During that night, three police teams repeatedly questioned her and recorded statemens in Sinhala. She was not informed of the contents of the statements but was told that LTTE suicide bombers had infiltrated the city.
On the following day, she was produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate and remanded till the conclusion of the investigations. She alleged that, while in remand at Welikade Prison, she underwent humiliating treatment, both by the staff and the inmates, in that, she was accused of being an LTTE suicide bomber come to kill Mangala Samaraweera at the BMICH.
She stated that for their allegation, they relied on the news appearing both in the electronic media and the press, which stated that she was an LTTE suicide bomber. On May 5, she was enlarged on Rs 5,000 personal bail and subsequently, on June 2, she was discharged without any charges being framed against her.
Petitioner is asking the Court to direct that she be permitted to work as Tamil Relief Announcer and as volunteer teacher, in which capacity she was working before her arrest. [DailyMirror]
Related: Tamil woman broadcaster released on bail By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
