A father of two, who had been abducted and disappeared, has been handed over to a police station by the police Special Task Force (STF) after 25 days.
Revealing that the victim was tortured during the 25-day period, a prominent prisoners’ rights organization noted that his life was spared after his mother exposed his disappearance through the media.
“He had been subjected to severe pressure during the time he disappeared. He had been subjected to torture as well. At one point, he had been forced to kneel and threatened that he would be shot in the head,” Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) Chairman Sudesh Nandimal Silva said.
Kapila Kumara went missing on the evening of 27 March 2023 in the North Central province town of Horowpathana, when he went to a store to purchase a loaf of bread.
His mother, Kumuduni Jayasekara, consistently claimed that she was confident that the police STF abducted and disappeared her son.
Allegations were also levelled that the police were neglecting its duty to discover the fate that befell the father of two. This was in a context where the recording of evidence from the affected parties began only after prisoners’ rights activists sought the court’s assistance.
Jayasekara said that her son, abducted and forcibly disappeared 25 days ago, had been handed over to the Pitigala Police Station by a group of police STF personnel on 21 April.
Moreover, she added that he is currently in remand custody after being produced before the Elpitiya Magistrate Court on 22 April.
On 2 May, CPRP’s Silva said in Colombo that the available information suggests that the police elite combat unit is involved in the abduction.
“We are receiving information that the STF is completely involved in this. He has not been arrested in a lawful manner, and it amounts to an abduction. He was disappeared for 25 days after the abduction.”
He further said that Kumara’s abductors, who had seen the media reports about Jayasekara’s struggle to find her son, had threatened to kill Kumara’s mother and father.
“After seeing Kumara’s mother’s statements on the media, they have said (to Kumara), ‘tell your mother not to talk to the media, and if she does so, both your mother and father will be killed.”
In addition, CPRP’s Silva emphasized that court action would be sought against the relevant officials in connection with the abduction, disappearance, and torture of Kapila Kumara Silva.
