Slamming the interrogating of the principal, teachers and students of a school in the north over an art installation at the school’s inter-house sports meet a prominent teachers’ union has denounced the police action as racially motivated oppression.
Police in Thellippalai had summoned and questioned the said parties over the construction of structure in the form of a flame lily blossom, which is considered the national flower of Tamils.
On 2 April, Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka’s (HRCSL) Jaffna branch alleging the police conduct has violated the students’ fundamental rights.
CTU says such oppression that bars students from utilizing their skills to create a structure of a flower that is mentioned in their textbooks, is racially motivated.
According to regional reporters, when students were creating several structures for Jaffna Thellippalai Union College’s inter-house sports meet on 30 March, army and police personnel who arrived at the venue had questioned about a stall shaped like a battle tank and a flame lily shaped structure built in front of a house stall.
Subsequently, the Police have summoned the students and teachers of the two houses to the Tellipalai Police Station the next day for questioning.
On 31 March Thellippalai police had questioned the students as to whether the teachers had instructed them to build the structures in question. Regional reporters say, the students had told the police that their creations were inspired by their feelings, what they see in their textbooks, and what they view in their day-to-day lives.
Moreover, the students have said they did not notify the teachers of the structures in advance, and that they built a flame lily flower-shaped structure in front of their house to give others an opportunity to see it since the flame lily flower blooms only once a year.
Regional reporters say that even the school principal had been summoned to the Thellippalai Police Station on 3 April, to be interrogated about the structure.
HRCSL’s Jaffna Coordinator T. Kanagaraj says that the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Thellippalai Police Station was summoned to the HRCSL on 5 April for inquiries pertaining to the complaint filed by CTU.
Adding that the OIC did not appear before the HRCSL on that day and that another officer from the said police station took part in the inquiry, the HRCSL coordinator had told regional journalists that the said officer had claimed the OIC was on leave.
Kanagaraj had further told journalists that the said police officer had claimed that students, teachers, and the principal were questioned based on instructions received by the Thellippalai Police Station from high-ranking officials.
Speaking to the media on 2 April, CTU’s Vice President Theepan Thileeshan stressed that this incident shows ongoing racial oppression prevalent in the North.
“It is one thing to conduct investigations within a certain legal framework if something unconstitutional or prohibited was displayed there. But, this is something that has not been banned in the Constitution in any manner, and this flower has been mentioned in our textbooks under the name Kanthal. Children not being allowed to recreate this flower through their skills demonstrates oppression, and these acts are racially motivated. We are unable to accept this.”
