1. Names of the alleged victim:
• Mr. Dasanayeke Mudiyansclage Thushara Jayarathne
n National Identity Card No.: 720692368V
• Law College Registration Number: 17988
Mr. Thushara Jayarathne is a final year student at the Sri Lanka Law College. http:/itvww_justi cenlinistry.gov.lkILaw%20college/SRI%20LANKA%20I,A W %20COLLEG E.htm
2. Background and reasons for violation:
{Victim's attempts to highlight irregularities regarding examinations at the Sri Lanka Law College - a State educational institute)
Mr. Jayarathne is a final year student at the Law College and was registered to it for the final year examinations conducted by the Law College between October and December 2010. Mr. Jayarathne completed 7 of the 9 subjects examined for the final year. He was unable to appear for the final two papers due to the threats and intimidation made against him by Law College officials, morefully detailed below.
On 3`d December 2010, shortly before the Commercial Law II examination, Mr. Jayarathne came to know that this paper had been unlawfully leaked before the scheduled time for the examination. Mr. Jayarathne immediately raised the issue with the invigilator in charge of the exam hall and also complained to the Office Manager of the I.aw College who rejected his complaint. Mr. Jayarathne's subsequent complaint to the Bribery and Corruption Commission of Sri Lanka was also rejected.
On 3`d December, Mr. Jayarathne lodged a complaint with the local Police Station (Keselwatte Police, in the Colombo District). Although the Police initially refused to record the complaint, Mr. Jayarathne eventually succeeded in having his complaint recorded under Complaint No: MOB 81139. Mr. Jayarathne is aware that the police, acting on his complaint, visited the Law College and recorded statements from the Principal and the Registrar of the Law College with respect to his allegations regarding the leaked exam paper.
Following this, Mr. Jayarathne received several threatening phone calls from Law College officials who threatened to kill him or abduct him if he did not immediately withdraw his complaint with the police. As a result of these threats, Mr. Jayarathne was unable to appear for the final two papers due to fears for his safety. Although his father made several appeals to Iocal human rights defenders to help ensure his safety and facilitate his appearance at these exams, no one was able to guarantee his safety inside the Law College premises.
The incident at Law College and the threats against Mr. Jayarathne received wide publicity in the local and international media. As a result of the serious negative publicity generated by
the incident, the Principal Law College, by his letter dated 6 5 January 2011, ordered Mr. Jayarathne to appear for an inquiry on 1 lth January at the Law College premises. The Ietter threatened that if Mr. Jayarathne failed to appear at the inquiry and state reasons for his allegations Iegal action will be taken against him by the College for making false allegations against its officials.
Mr. Jayarathne attended the inquiry on 11`x' December, despite significant fears for his security. At the inquiry, Mr. Jayarathne detailed the following information:
a. The Commercial Law II exam paper scheduled for 3rd December 2010 had been leaked and the question paper was being discussed by students before the examination. Mr. Jayarathne's complaints in this regard to the lead invigilator in the exam hall and the Office Manager of Law College were both rejected.
b. Mr. Jayarathnc's previous complaints regarding the preferential treatment provided to Mr. Namal Rajapakse (Member of Parliament and the elder son of President Mahinda Rajapaksc), who sat for the same final year examination, by Law College officials has also not been accepted by the authorities. Mr. Jayarathne stated that on each day of the final year exams, he personally witnessed Mr. Rajapakse enter an air conditioned room, equipped with computers, to sit for the examination in complete violation of standard Law College exam procedure. The Examination Rules are extremely strict regarding the use of electronic equipments and students are repeatedly ordered to switch off and hand over their mobile phones prior to the exam. Although the Principal, Law College claimed to the local media that there were three other (unidentified) students present in the room with Mr. Rajapakse during the exams, Mr. Jayarathne never saw any person other than Mr. Rajapakse enter the room prior to each exam,
c. Following the incident on 3`d December, Mr. Jayarathne received threatening phone calls from the Office Manager of the Law College to his mobile phone. The calls were made using the Law College landline. Details of the threats are described morefuliy below.
3. AIleged violations committed against the victims
3.1 Following the incident on 3'° December, Mr. Jayarathne received several threatening phone calls - as many as three a day - pressuring him to withdraw his complaint against the Sri Lanka Law College. The initial calls were made to his mobile number from the Law College landline and Mr. Jayarathne clearly identified the Office Manager, Law College as the caller. On each occasion, Mr. Jayarathne has been abused in foul Ianguage and threatened with death or abduction if he did not cease his complaints against the Law College. Following the wide publicity given in the local and international media, particularly the BBC to the threats and persecution against Mr. Jayarathne the calls eventually ceased.
3.2 On 4t5 March 2011, at or around 1I am, Mr. Jayarathne was abducted by two unidentified men from a public bus stop in Colombo. Mr. Jayarathne was standing at a bus stop in Kohuwala (in the Colombo District) when he was approached by two men who informed him that they wished to record his statement. Fearing for his safety, Mr. Jayarathne refused to make a statement and immediately boarded a public bus heading out of Colombo. A short while later, Mr. Jayaratlme realised that the two men had also boarded the same bus. When Mr. Jayarathne attempted to get off the bus at the Pillawa bus stop (also in Colombo) the men followed him and forced him into a white van which was parked nearby. Mr. Jayarathne was then taken to an unknown location and interrogated for several house before being released at or around 11 pm the same day. The men questioned Mr. Jayarathne regarding his complaints against the
Registrar of Law College and also about his complaints to international organisations. Mr. Jayarathne has lodged a complaint regarding the incident with the Inspector General of Police and the National Human Rights Commission on 7'h March 2011. The complaints were sent by registered post since Mr. Jayarathne is afraid to enter any local police station in Sri Lanka out of fear for his safety.
3.3 When Mr. Jayarathne attempted to lodge a complaint at the Bribery and Corruption Commission office in Colombo, on 4'h December 2010, a senior official on the second floor, in charge of receiving and recording complaints, threatened Mr Jayarathne, stating specifically that `the nature of the world is that big creatures will swallow small creatures and that anyone who doesn't understand and accept this will suffer the fate of Aristotle and Plato'.
3.4 By his letter dated 6th January 2011 (Refer annex 1), the Principal, Law College, ordered Mr. Jayaratne to appear before an inquiry into the complaint he had lodged with the local police. In the same letter, the principal threatened to conduct a disciplinary inquiry and take action against Mr. Jayarathne for lodging false complaints, in case he didn't appear for the inquiry scheduled for 11 rh January 2011.
3.5 Mr. Jayaratne raised objections with the Inquiry Officer against the inquiry being held under the authority of the Principal and the Office Manager - two key perpetrators identified above. The Principal is accused of providing additional facilities to Mr. Namal Rajapakse in violation of standard Law College Procedure. The Office Manager has allegedly refused to accept Mr. Jayarathnc's complaints and subsequently made threatening phone calls on Mr. Jayarathne's phone. However, these objections were ignored by the Inquiring Officer (Attorney at Law, Mr. Uditha Egelehewa).
3.6 During the inquiry held at the Law College on 11`1' January 2011, the Inquiring Officer refused to consider Mr. Jayarathne's submission regarding the threats made by the Office Manager to Mr. Jayarathne's mobile phone on the I.aw College landline.
3.7 Although, the Inquiring Officer promised to send Mr. Jayarathne certified copies of his testimony during the hearing, but Mr. Jayarathnc had not received any documents as of 8th February 2011.
3.8 Mr. Jayarathne believes that this inquiry was conducted to persecute and punish him, rather than to deal with his allegations of exam related irregularities.
3.9 The Principal, Law College has made several baseless allegations to the media that Mr. Jayarathne has been making unfounded complaints regarding exam irregularities due to his (Mr. Jayarathne's) weakness in the English language.
3.10 Mr. Jayarathne also considers as a threat, the Principal's statement to the online media (Lanka E News) that a decision has been taken regarding Mr. Jayarathne by the Legal Education Council. I-Iwever the principal failed to provide details of the decision, The Chief Justice of Sri Lanka in his statement to the BBC has denied that such a decision has been made.
httO:llwww.bbc.co.uk/sinhelalnewslstory120111011110130 law college ci.shtmi
4. Actions taken 1 response of authorities:
Complaints regarding the telephone threats and general fear and insecurity had been sent by registered post on 15`h December 2010 to the Chief Justice, Ombudsman and National Human Rights Commission by Mr. Jayarathne.
n A complaint had been sent to the Chief Justice by Mr. Jayaratne through registered post on 26th January 2010 regarding concerns arising out of the inquiry held on 11'h January at the Law College.
A further complaint was send to the Chief Justice by Mr. Jayaratne by registered post on 31't January 201 I, based on his belief that the arson attack on Lanka Enews office on 3 is' January 2011, may also be due to the publicity Lanka Enews had given to Mr. Jayarathne, when very few media houses were willing to publicize the news. In this complaint, Mr. Jayarathne had stated that Mr. Namal Rajapakse may have been angered by the news reporting of Lanka Enews on this ease and suggested that statements be obtained from Mr. Namal Rajapakse and the Principal of Law College.
n Complaint dated 15th December 2010 was submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (N1--IRC) regarding the incident and threats received by Mr. .Jayarathne and was recorded under No. HRC14 0 5 1120 1 0. In response, the Commission by its Ietter dated, 03rd February 2011 informed Mr. Jayarathnc that a complaint had been recorded and was being considered by the Commission. The NHRC by its Ietter dated 3 March 2011 informed Mr. Jayarathne of its decision to terminate the inquiry into his complaint based on the fact that his complaint was outside the purview of the NHRC mandate.
• A further complaint regarding the abduction on 4'h March 2011 was submitted to the NHRC on 7`h March 2011. By its letter dated 11th March 2011 the NHRC informed Mr. Jayarathne of its refusal to take any further action regarding his complaint (recorded as HRC179612011) since the complaint did not indicate a violation of his fundamental rights under the Constitution and did not fall within the mandate of the NHRC. The NIIRC also suggested that Mr. Jayarathne submit a complaint in this regard with the local police for relief.
n In response to the complaint made by Mr. Jayarathne to the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman's office has sent a letter dated 14th January 2011 (Ref. P12/5/2597) to the Commissioner General of the Bribery and Corruption Commission and the Officer in Charge of the Keselwatte Police requesting reports regarding the said complaint on or before the 261h January 2011.
5. Requests:
• Immediate stop to the harassment and intimidation of Mr. Jayaratne due to his pursuance of complaints regarding irregularities in examinations at the Law College
n Guarantee security of Mr. Jayaratne
• Investigate threats and intimidations against Mr. Jayaratne
• Investigate the allegations of irregularities at the Law College
6. Additional information
6.1 Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
http://www.ahrclilc. nctlstatementslmainfile.php12006statemcntsl3 0131?print=ves
6.2 Media report by BBC
http:llwww. hhc.co. uklsinhalahnews/story/2011101 / I 1 [3109 law college.shtml
hftp:1l.bbc.co.uk1sinhalalnews1stoN12011101/110130 law college ci.shtml
6.3 Media report by Lanka Enews
http:/1www.e1ankancws.info1201 I I01 /law-college-exam-malpractices-and.html
hitp:llwww. l an kaen ews. c omlEng l i sh/nc ws. php? i d=10 6 3 2
No comments:
Post a Comment