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Police ordered to reveal tear gas truth before 14 November

28 Oct 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera Delivering the decision on the appeal related to a request for information made by Journalist Tharindu Iranga Jayawardhana regarding the alleged use of expired tear gas, fired at recent protests, and the purchase of said tear gas, the Right to Information (RTI) Commission yesterday (27) ordered the Police to release the relevant information before 14 November. The appeal with regard to a request for information made by Jayawardhana regarding the alleged use of expired tear gas fired at protests, and the purchase of tear gas, was taken up yesterday. The appeal was taken up before retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Upali Abeyratne, retired Judge Rohini Walgama, and Attorneys-at-Law Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Jagath Liyanaarachchi, and Mohammed Nahia. Accordingly, the RTI Commission ruled that the documents related to the purchase of tear gas, technical evaluation committee reports pertaining to tear gas purchases, the quantities of tear gas fired at protests, and the alleged use of expired tear gas, contain information of public importance, and therefore ordered the Police to release the relevant information before 14 November. If the Police fails to release the relevant information, the RTI Commission stated, it will file a case against the Police and the relevant officers in the relevant Magistrate's Court (MC) under Section 39 of the RTI Act. Although the relevant request has been made under the provisions of the RTI Act related to people’s lives and personal freedoms, the RTI Commission emphasised that the Police has not paid enough attention to it. However, the Commission stated that since the requested information was the most discussed information in the society these days, the Information Officers should have paid more attention to the provisions of the Act. It is stated in the judgment that the documents which were mentioned as “destroyed” when the Police initially responded, were later given, and that such responses by the Police without investigating the facts are not at all commendable. The Commission further stated that when giving information about the total amount of tear gas brought to Sri Lanka from 1 January 2010, to 1 January 2022, the Police did not mention the amount of tear gas purchased on 7 July 2012, and that when giving information about the number of times that tear gas was brought in during the relevant period, the Police had not mentioned the year 2012. Commenting on the matter that Jayawardhana has requested the amount of tear gas used by the Police annually from 2010 to 2022, but that the Police has refused to provide that information saying that it is a threat to national security, the RTI Commission has stated in its decision that the Commission concludes that this information is directly related to public welfare. The RTI Commission states that since the use of tear gas for law enforcement is a legal process carried out by the State, there should not be any secrecy, and that accordingly, the information should be released before the said date. In relation to the request made by Jayawardhana to provide the tender documents related to the purchase of tear gas from 2010 to 2022, the Police had responded previously that such information could not be provided because the Police destroy documents that are not related to cases once in every five years. If that is the case, the appellant party argued that it seems that tear gas has not been purchased in the past five years, and that if so, the Police have fired expired tear gas that had been bought five years ago. The RTI Commission earlier informed the Police that according to the relevant legal provisions, information up to 12 years must be protected, and that the Police itself has even issued a circular in that regard. If the Police say that the information was destroyed, the RTI Commission pointed out that an investigation will have to be conducted into the violation of the relevant legal provisions, and that after the investigation, a case will have to be filed in the Magistrate’s Court. Following the sudden death of a youth after an illness during the protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo on 13 July, several parties including the Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) claimed that there are reports that the Police have used expired tear gas to disperse the protestors and that there is a reasonable doubt as to whether the death of this youth was due to the use of such expired tear gas. However, Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa refuted such claims at the time.  


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