Friday 15th December, 2023

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon and three other police officers to pay two million rupees as compensation, out of their personal funds, to a person for illegal arrest, detention and torture at the Mirihana Police Station in 2011. Ordering the State to pay Rs. 100,000 to the petitioner as compensation, the SC has directed the National Police Commission (NPC) to take disciplinary action against all police officers including Tennakoon. The SC ruling has gladdened the hearts of all those who cherish democracy.

The SC has rightly ordered that Tennakoon and others pay compensation out of their own funds. Otherwise, public money would have been utilised for that purpose. The aforesaid case may not have had anything to do with the ruling party politicians, but governments usually leap to the defence of errant cops, who serve their interests at the expense of the public. It may be recalled that in 1983, the then UNP government did so when a stooge in the garb of a police officer was found guilty of having violated the fundamental rights of legendary leftist, Vivienne Goonewardene, who was roughed up during a peaceful protest in Colombo. President J. R. Jayewardene, who was intoxicated with power, unflinchingly had the culprit promoted subsequently.

The houses of the Supreme Court judges also came under attack when the UNP goons retaliated. Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe was a minister in that repressive regime. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who pitted himself against the oppressive Jayewardene administration, earned notoriety for human rights violations after his elevation to the presidency. Pro-government goons were allowed to operate alongside the police to crush Opposition protests openly during his presidency. Today, the UNP and the SLPP led by the Rajapaksas are making a joint effort to retain their hold on power, and how vulnerable democracy has become goes without saying.

There is no way the SLPP-UNP government can claim that it was not aware of the serious allegations against Tennakoon when it appointed him the acting IGP. Given the ugly past of the incumbent government leaders, who never hesitate to violate fundamental/human rights to cling on to power, one wonders whether they considered those allegations as qualifications.

Savage attacks that SLPP goons carried out on the Galle Face protesters on 09 May 2022, igniting countrywide riots, could have been prevented if the police personnel under SDIG Tennakoon had cared to use force to stop the violent government supporters. Instead, the police waited until attacks were over to act, and retaliatory violence left a wide trail of destruction.

But today the police swoop on even peaceful protesters who pose no threat to anyone. The despicable suppression of a group of female JVP activists engaged in a recent protest near Parliament is a case in point. Why did the police lack this kind of high-octane performance during the Galle Face goon attacks, which almost plunged the country into anarchy?

It is hoped that the aforesaid apex court order will serve as a warning to all police personnel who stick their necks out and commit excesses usually at the behest of politicians for short-term gains. They unashamedly offer their services to the politicians in power as Hitler’s Gestapo and shock troops, as can be seen from the way they spring into action to crush peaceful anti-government protests. They and their political masters seem to consider the act of expressing democratic dissent a crime.

What action will the NPC take in compliance with the SC order? What will be the government’s reaction? Will Tennakoon be allowed to function as the acting IGP?

Pity the land that cannot find a good cop to head the police.