Torture Occurrence in Police Custody: Critical Legal study on Sri Lankan Context

Abstract

A Police force is established in a country with the prime objective of enhancing the internal security of a state. Thus, the safety and security of the individuals is expected to be upheld by the Police and from the initial commencement of complaining procedure, the whole legal investigation procedure is performed by the Police. However, in some incidents when individuals seek assistance from the Police it was evident that the Police have violated their fundamental rights mainly under Article 11 of the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Act against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment No 22 of 1994. On the other hand, this strong legal coverage has considerably prevented Police officers from torturing individuals in Police custody. It is also evident that this has affected the amount of cases solved by the Police. Therefore, this study aims to critically reveal the bitter story of torture occurrence in Police custody and to find other possible solutions in order to enhance the amount of case solving. The research problem of this study thus aims to evaluate the efficiency of other possible methods in case solving without violating the fundamental rights of the Police custodians through torture. Thus, the research objective is to enhance the protection of both Police officers and Police custodians during solving cases and to ensure further civil trust towards the Police. This study will be based on both quantitative and qualitative research methods which critically analyze applicable legal standards, statistical data, and practical experiences of the police officials and views of the experts in order to understand the problem and to find possible answers. These reforms are to be introduced to international arena, in order to inculcate professionalism of Police officers for national development and to overcome many challenges in the future.