Police Inspector Bhatiya Jayasinghe, who has been promoted from Police Inspector to the post of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), expressed his happiness through a post on his Facebook account. He wrote as follows.
“Promotion to the post of Assistant Superintendent of Police is a dream as well as a challenge for a Police Inspector. Amidst various challenges, I have received my promotion to the post of Assistant Superintendent of Police with effect from March 23, 2025.”
Although the current Inspector General of Police may not remember who this Bhatiya Jayasinghe, promoted to ASP, is, it is on record. This Bhatiya Jayasinghe is the 2nd Respondent in a case filed in the Supreme Court against former Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon for allegedly torturing a suspect by applying Siddhalepa Bam to his genitals.
If the caretakers of the National People’s Power (NPP) government, who came to power swearing and promising to protect the citizens’ human rights from head to toe, had any shame or remorse, they would not only stop promoting torturers like Bhatiya Jayasinghe to ASP but would have expelled them from the police department altogether. However, in a context where we daily hear and see such absurd interventions by the NPP government, having forgotten the policy pledges they distributed among citizens to secure the electoral knife, should we be surprised that a chili-paste torturer is given a high-ranking position?
Nevertheless, we wish to briefly remind the IGP and the caretakers of the NPP government about that case.
The brutality of former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon became publicly known in Sri Lanka due to the verdict given in a Fundamental Rights application (SCFR 47/2011) filed in the Supreme Court by a former Army soldier named Weheragedara Ranjith Sumangala, a resident of Kindelpitiya, Millewa, Horana.
The Respondents in this petition were:
1. Police Constable Bandara, Mirihana Police Station
2. Police Inspector Bhatiya Jayasinghe, Mirihana Police Station
3. Chief Police Inspector Egodawela, Mirihana Police Station
4. Ajith Vanasundara, No. 255, Malagala, Padukka
5. M.W. Deshabandu Tennakoon, Superintendent of Police, Nugegoda
6. Mahinda Balasuriya, Inspector General of Police, Police Headquarters, Colombo
7. Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Aluthkade
The petitioner, Ranjith Sumangala, who filed this fundamental rights application, was abducted by a police team on December 15, 2010, while on his way to work. The reason for his abduction was a complaint made through an anonymous petition received by then SP Deshabandu Tennakoon.
The abducted Ranjith Sumangala was taken to the Dambara cemetery and tortured. The 2nd Respondent, Police Inspector Bhatiya Jayasinghe, threatened to bury him alive if he did not confess to the offence. Subsequently, PI Bhatiya Jayasinghe gave two shopping bags filled with chili powder to the 1st Respondent, PC Bandara, and ordered him to place them over Sumangala’s head. When the petitioner, Ranjith Sumangala, was nearing death from inhaling the chili powder, the bags were removed from his head.
It was revealed that the petitioner, Ranjith Sumangala, had been subjected to severe torture only after he was admitted to the Matale Hospital for treatment following his release on bail. The Judicial Medical Officer at Matale Hospital certified that the injuries on his body were consistent with the statements he made about the torture endured in police custody.
The methods of torture described by Ranjith Sumangala in his petition:
– “My legs were tied, and I was hung upside down and immersed in a puddle of water there. When I struggled to breathe, they pulled me out. This was done repeatedly.”
– “They brought Siddhalepa bam, petrol, and shopping bags. They put petrol into the shopping bags and held them against my face.”
– “Later, I was stripped naked, and Siddhalepa bam was applied to my penis.”
Furthermore, the then-SP Nugegoda, Deshabandu Tennakoon, had arrived at the scene, beaten Ranjith Sumangala and other suspects with a rubber hose, provided Siddhalepa bam, and ordered that it be applied to their genitals. Accordingly, the suspects had applied that chili paste to their own genitals.
The Supreme Court Verdict
The Supreme Court ruled that the respondents in this fundamental rights petition were guilty of violating the human rights of Ranjith Sumangala. According to that verdict:
1. The guilty police officers must pay compensation of two million rupees (Rs. 2,000,000) from their personal funds to the victim.
2. The government must pay an additional compensation of one hundred thousand rupees (Rs. 100,000).
3. The Police Commission was ordered to take disciplinary action against the guilty police officers.
The Police Commission’s Disobedience of the Law
According to the Supreme Court order, the Police Commission should have taken disciplinary action against Police Inspector Bhatiya Jayasinghe. However, it is clear that the Police Commission did not value that Supreme Court order any more than a passing wind. From incidents like this, one can gather that Sri Lanka’s Police Commission is more powerful than the Supreme Court.
When we think about Bhatiya Jayasinghe’s promotion to ASP, as citizens we feel deep shock and sorrow at the extent to which the country’s law has been degraded. Perhaps the “Double Police Minister” might think it’s good to keep close as henchmen, by giving promotions to police officers who are practiced at “managing” citizens who might oppose the government in the future by applying chili paste to their genitals.
(Edited and translated from a Sinhala language article published in Lanka Dawasa website on 28 Feb 2026)