The Inspector General of Police has ordered an investigation into a video circulating on social media that was filmed inside the Ambalangoda Police Station, Daily Mirror reported on Wednesday.
Police said the inquiry is being conducted under the supervision of the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Galle Division and is being led by a senior officer serving outside the Elpitiya Police Division, which Ambalangoda falls under. Assigning the investigating officer from outside the division is the standard step taken where a station’s own chain of command is the subject of the complaint.
The footage shows a man behaving aggressively inside the station while saying his father had been assaulted by officers.
Two accounts of the same night
Police and the detainee’s family disagree on how the injuries visible in the video were caused.
According to police, the elderly man was arrested by Ambalangoda officers on the night of August 24 after he was found intoxicated and behaving disorderly on a road, and was then taken to the station. Police said he tried to flee at the point of arrest and fell while doing so, and that the bleeding injuries seen in the video were sustained in that fall.
His son gives a different account. He alleged that his father was stopped about 100 metres from their home and taken to the station after being unable to produce his National Identity Card. The son said his father offered to walk the officers to the nearby house to retrieve the card, but was instead verbally abused and assaulted. He further alleged that his father was assaulted inside the station, threatened with a firearm, and prevented from getting immediate medical treatment.
Neither account has been tested by the investigation, and no officer has been named or reported as suspended.
Medical examination and bail
The man was taken to Balapitiya Hospital by Ambalangoda police on August 25, where he was examined by a Judicial Medical Officer. He was subsequently produced before the Additional Magistrate of Balapitiya, who ordered his release on bail.
The Judicial Medical Officer’s findings are likely to be central to the inquiry, since the medical evidence is the main independent test of whether the injuries are consistent with a fall or with an assault. Daily Mirror did not report what those findings were.
The investigation is continuing.
Update: August 26 — arresting team’s Sub-Inspector transferred out
The Sub-Inspector who led the team that made the arrest has been transferred out of the Ambalangoda Police Station with immediate effect, Ada Derana reported on Wednesday.
The transfer is the first action taken against any officer in the case, and it narrows the inquiry’s focus to the arresting team rather than the station generally. A transfer is an administrative step, not a disciplinary finding, and Ada Derana did not report the officer as suspended or as facing charges.
Ada Derana’s account of the underlying incident matches the Daily Mirror’s in each particular — the IGP’s instruction, the supervision by the DIG for the Galle Division, the appointment of a senior officer from outside the Elpitiya Police Division to lead it, and the police account of a fall during an attempted escape. The officer was not named.
Police said further action will be taken based on the findings of the special investigation.
Separately on Wednesday, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said in Galgamuwa that the government would step in to protect officers facing disciplinary action despite having done their jobs properly, while ruling out any tolerance for deliberate misconduct. He was not reported as referring to this case.
