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By Ranee Mohamed

The Sunday Leader photo-journalist Asoka Fernando, a Buddhist, a vegetarian, with photography as the sole means of earning a livelihood was mercilessly assaulted allegedly by the Maharagama police on November 28. Fernando’s body and limbs bear witness to gross police brutality and the question that is being asked is, if a journalist is kicked, baton-whacked and boxed this way, then what of the common man who has no ready access to the print and electronic media?

Fernando was on an assignment, poised with his camera waiting for the Fiscal authorities who were scheduled to arrive at the Depanama Anularamaya in Weera Mawatha, of which he was also a committee member. A telephone call from a priest on the previous day alerted him to cover this event, which comes as ‘big news’ in a country which professes to be an essentially Buddhist nation. Together with him stood Sirasa cameraman Imam.

Root of the issue

The root of the controversy goes back to 17 years when a villager named Atapattu had donated the premises to a temple. Thereafter, Atapattu with the help of the people of the village, had built the temple and brought a respected priest whom he was close to him to live in this temple. Investigations also revealed that thereafter Atapattu had fallen out with the Buddhist priest and that the priest had left the temple. Thereafter, in the temple lived Buddhist monks who imparted knowledge and education to the youth of the village. They were respected as much as the temple was revered.

But Atapattu seeking legal means had regained ownership of the temple premises and the day Fernando was waiting was the third day of the arrival of the Fiscal authorities to evict the Buddhist priests. “I learnt that the temple was to be bull-dozed and razed to the ground and early morning on November 28, I went there. There were about 400 people at the temple. The Sirasa cameraman received an urgent telephone call and had to leave, but he managed to get some shots of the crowd. He told me that he would be back and left,” said Fernando.

Police storm premises

Very soon, the villagers saw a police team of about 250 to 300 in uniform storm their way to the temple premises. “As they reached the temple premises and towards the crowd, one officer said ‘let us do this calmly, the ASP of Nugegoda also will be coming,’” said Fernando.

But when the ASP of Nugegoda arrived, things changed. “The ASP said that it was a court order and whoever went against the court order had to be dealt with. Then the Fiscal officers came in with the police. I was atop the bana maduwa. What was happening was indeed big news. The police officers were hitting out at the people, kicking them and shoving them violently aside. Everyone was mercilessly beaten, including Buddhist monks who tried to block their path,” he said.

“Just as I was filming, the ASP saw me and gestured not to take photos. I saw that the police officers were getting ready to break the padlock of the temple and I went towards them to take the exclusive photographs. The ASP saw me again and asked me not to take photographs. I showed him my media accreditation card and was shocked when he snatched it and ordered his officers to grab my camera. He was surrounded by his men in uniform and they surrounded me on his orders and grabed my camera. Then the OIC of the Maharagama Police and OIC Crimes Soysa hit me in a way that I have never been beaten before,” said Fernando who had earlier been assaulted in 1997 during the coverage of a protest involving the demand to abolish the executive presidency. There too Fernando was assaulted and his camera wrecked.

Police brutality

But this encounter with the police in the temple was sans all compassion, as police brutality in its worst form arose under the bo tree. “Then IP Piyadarshana, IP Ekanayake, and another policeman called Ramesh said ‘mey inney moo thamai ona miniha’ and they started kicking me with their heavy shoes and hitting my head, face neck and the side of my spine. The force of all these blows threw me to the ground. But they did not leave me alone, bending forward they baton charged me as I tried to cover my face with my injured arm. Thereafter, they began to pull me along the gravel, the dust rising, the gravel tearing my clothes and my skin,” said Fernando in tears.

A frequent visitor to the temple on seeing the violence and the abuse that this honest journalist was being subjected to had shouted, “Don’t hit him, he is a journalist,” but it had been of no avail. “In desperation, he threw himself over me and covered me and we were both beaten. Thereafter the Maharagama police took us and put us in a cell,” recalled Fernando, speaking about the agony he suffered at the hands of the law makers.

On the morning of November 29, the brutal assault on The Sunday Leader photo journalist was in every newspaper. But Fernando, locked up in the police cell by the Maharagama police, was far away from all news – the news of his assault and the police version of the assault.

“I was shocked to find out from people visiting me that the police were charging me with attempted murder of a Buddhist priest by pouring petrol over him and aiding him to set fire to himself. I also got subtle messages from the police officers and through my visitors that if I were to admit to this, and did not want an official recording of the case, then I would be released and the whole episode shoved under the carpet,” said Fernando.

Fabricated charge

The bruises were hurting, every bone in his body seemed broken and even his organs seem to be gnawing into him, but Asoka Fernando, being the staunch Buddhist that he is, opted to remain in his cell and clear his name before getting out after accepting the fabricated charge that he had tried to set fire to a Buddhist priest.

“On that same morning at 11 a.m., I was taken into a room and a policeman told me there was a serious charge against me. He asked me whether I accepted it and I replied in the negative. He wrote down something and took me to the DMO and I showed my injuries. They dragged it all and it at 2 p.m. when they finished everything, court was almost adjourned,” said Fernando.

Lawyers who spoke on behalf of photojournalist Asoka Fernando told court that Fernando was a journalist doing his job at the premises of the temple. Fernando left for the temple premises after recording this assignment in the photographer’s assignment book. Fernando is a professional photographer and a multi-talented photographer who was almost paralysed by police brutality. Today, Fernando is not only bruised, but hurt and sans his Canon digital camera, worth over Rs.170,000 which is in the possession of the Maharagama police.

Fernando has to also sign a book at the Maharagama police on Sundays and Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 12 p. m. He has been prohibited from going near the temple where he has down the years taken part in bodhi poojas and other homages to the Buddha.

Many misfortunes

Fernando has suffered many misfortunes this year. About a month ago there had been two repeated robberies at his house. “The first time they took our clothes away, the second time they took my handphone, jewellery and few other valuables that I possessed. I made a complaint to the Mahargama police. When the burglar was caught and he admitted to the robberies, the police did nothing. The burglar offered to take me to the place where he sold my valuables, yet the police were not interested. I do not know what happened to my things and what happened to the burglar either. I brought the acts of omission and commission to the notice of the higher police authorities and ever since they have been angry with me,” recalled Fernando.

With over 400 people at the temple premises, what Fernando wonders is why only a journalist who was merely doing his duty and the man who tried to save him were kicked, baton charged and dragged through the dust and dirt and arrested, while everyone else remains free? The question is specially directed at the ASP and OIC of the Maharagama Police, Manoj Rupasinghe.
[SundayLeader.lk]