Youth seeks safety at Jaffna Police station

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 January 2007, 16:47 GMT]
A youth from Kokuvil west in Jaffna surrendered at the Jaffna police station Monday fearing danger to his life by unknown armed men. The police produced the youth Monday before Jaffna district magistrate Mr. R. T. Wicknarajah who ordered the youth to be placed in Jaffna prison under the protective custody of the courts until February 9, legal sources in Jaffna said.

Tharmalingam Ramesh Babu, 22, complained that he has been receiving constant threats to his life from unknown men and said he feared he will be killed if he stayed at home.

Already 42 persons are placed in the protective custody in Jaffna prison under the order of Jaffna Court. Besides a woman and a 15 year old girl, the rest of the 42 are all youths.

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to reopen the rehabilitation centre at Tellipalai to function as a special detention camp for the civilians who had surrendered at the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and police complaining of serious threats to life and intimidation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and the paramilitary members operating with them.

Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva directed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and the Commissioner of Protection Centre Suhada K. Gamalath to establish a Rehabilitation Centre headed by a just civil servant without the intervention of the Sri Lanka Forces.

Accordingly, a Rehabilitation Centre is to be re-established in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Tellipalai under a retired government official.

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