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Police bail given even for grave poll violations, says Monitoring group
Some 95 per cent of those arrested in connection with polls related violence have been released on police bail barely four hours after they were taken into custody, despite the incidents being of a serious and non-bailable nature, an independent election monitoring group said yesterday.
“This is a worrying development and the relevant authorities have failed to effectively arrest this trend,” Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon told the Sunday Times.
Scene of the shooting: The home of Lakshman Wendurawa. Pic by Pushpakumara Jayaratne
He said that since nominations on December 8 last year there have been at least 21 incidents where fire arms were used leaving a dozen people wounded some with life threatening injuries and in most cases the suspects were released on police bail.
He added that apart from that there have been 1,079 complaints of polls violations from the use of State machinery to the display of election propaganda material and the cases of serious intimidation of voters.
According to the complaints and reports received by CaFFE the bulk of the complaints have been made against pro-government supporters and activists, he said.
He added that the incidents were not restricted to a particular area or region but was widespread in almost all parts of the country.
He further said that the Election Commissioner’s Office had been constantly updated on the prevailing situation.
In the most serious case reported this week was a mob attack on a packed election propaganda meeting attended by the Opposition common candidate Maithripala Sirisena at Pelmadulla in Ratnapura on Friday evening. At least 20 persons were injured when suspected pro-government goons pelted the gathering with stones from a nearby building.
No arrests have so far been made in this connection.
In another incident yesterday morning at Kurunegala one person was shot and seriously wounded after gunmen shot at the home of Lakshman Wendurawa, a former United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Provincial Councillor who crossed over to the opposition camp earlier in the week.
The injured person was identified as a watchman employed by the North-Western PC member.
Meanwhile a senior policeman refuted the claims and said that most of those arrested were produced in courts and later released on bail.
Those arrested in connection with the use and possession of firearms, were however, refused bail and remanded, Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent (SSP) Ajith Rohana said.