SLHRC to query police inaction

17 September 2012 12:40 am

The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) has decided to make inquiries from the police as to why they failed to arrest Minister Mervyn Silva’s son Malaka who allegedly assaulted an Army intelligence officer during a night club brawl.

The injured army officer was admitted to hospital on September 8, 2012.

SLHRC Commissioner Dr. Pratiba Mahanama told the Daily Mirror yesterday that no arrests had been made yet though several days had passed since the incident.

“Therefore, we have a duty to make inquiries.  We will call the relevant police officers for a meeting within the next few days. Sri Lanka is under watch by the international community. There are commonwealth delegates in the country. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sri Lanka is coming up on November in Geneva. Therefore, we cannot be silent on police inaction,” he said.   

The Jathika Hela Urumaya of the ruling coalition also expressed their dissent last week over the failure to arrest Malaka Silva. Party’s MP Ven. Athuraliye Ratana Thera said Malaka should not be kept immune from the law merely because he is the son of a minister.

The government has come under rap by various international organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International and the UN on rights abuses.  On many an international fora, representatives of these organizations had questioned about the delay in police investigations into cases of rights violations. (Kelum Bandara)