The wife of a Tamil man arrested in Jaffna has accused Sri Lankan police of torturing her husband in custody and subsequently charging him in a drug case, in what she says is an attempt to cover up abuse.
The woman has lodged a formal complaint with the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka over the incident.
According to her account, her husband was one of three men arrested by Sri Lankan police on February 14, in connection with an alleged burglary at a house. She stated that while the families of the other two detainees were informed of their arrests, police failed to provide any information regarding her husband.
She further alleged that police withheld information about his whereabouts for three days. It was only on the 17th that she discovered he was being held at the occupying Point Pedro Police Station. When she went to the station, she saw that he had allegedly been subjected to torture and assault, with bloodstains visible on his body and injuries so severe that he was unable to stand or walk.
When she asked officers the basis for her husband’s arrest, she was initially told it was in connection with a theft. She said she questioned them further, asking where the alleged theft had taken place and whether a formal complaint had been lodged. She also asked why she had only been informed of his arrest on the 17th when he had in fact been taken into custody on the 14th and why no information had been provided to the family during that period.
According to her, Sri Lankan police officers at the Point Pedro station then claimed that ‘ice’ narcotics had been recovered from her husband’s possession and told her that if she had anything further to say, she could raise it in court. She was then removed from the station.
The following day, her husband was produced before the Point Pedro Magistrate’s Court and charged with possession of ‘ice’, a crystalline form of methamphetamine. After hearing the case, the court remanded him in custody.
In light of these developments, the woman stated that she lodged a complaint on Thursday with the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, alleging torture in custody, unlawful detention, and the filing of a drug charge following her husband’s arrest.
The allegations come amid longstanding and well-documented patterns of torture and ill-treatment of Tamils in Sri Lankan custody. Human rights organisations, including the United Nations and international monitoring bodies, have repeatedly documented cases of arbitrary detention, custodial torture, sexual violence, and the use of fabricated charges against Tamil detainees. Despite repeated promises of reform and accountability, prosecutions remain rare.
