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| Monday, 27 October 2003 |
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Letters | |
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The stigma a Policeman carries perennially is that he is never trustworthy and as the well-known phrase goes "Never trust a Policeman" an actual misnomer of a phrase when one gets to realize the 'out of home' and 'round the clock' duties carried out after much comprehensive training and 'built in' discipline with a dedication which brings duty first then the friend earning him the ill-phrased misnomer. The Policeman has to cultivate associates of the society and community he serves and endeavour to know everything and everybody if he is to be a successful law enforcer and custodian. He should be able to mix at all levels, maybe a local 'baila' session in a remote hamlet stationed post or going on a higher level at a township posting to be able to take the hands of many a beautiful damsel on to the next dance and the floor at some Socialites function or elite party. To get back a few weeks' it was some foreign friends of mine who pointed out our genial and soft-spoken Head of police with a foursome at a table meting out self-effacing nods and pleasant monosyllable for some of the bold who had approached in greeting and 'small talk'. This was at a simple mediocre Chinese restaurant we too had chosen for our 'evening out' and dinner. My friends asserted that this was the real camaraderie being practiced in most progressive countries with much crimeless success. This is all about rapport and co-existence. Good luck for a new look Sri Lankan Police Force with a brand new built in image and concept and a confidence regained by the general populace and the society. W. MEADOWS - Nelumpura How to increase the conviction rate? Chief Justice Sarath N Silva was quoted in a newspaper as saying that he would try to raise Sri Lanka's criminal conviction rate from the current four per cent to 50 per cent. He said this while speaking at the opening of Rekawarana Foundation. The Chief Justice's remarks about attempting to increase the conviction rate raised questions about the judicial function. While the Chief Justice was making this statement, the country's Inspector General had resigned. Under such circumstances how can the Chief Justice increase the conviction rate from four to 50 per cent? Is he going to take a very active part in trying to improve the policing system? If the quality of criminal investigations improve, then the conviction rate will naturally improve, as the real culprits would be brought to trial rather than substitutes for the culprits. With improved investigations sufficient evidence will be placed before the courts so that the cases can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The poor quality of the investigations lead either to acquittals of actual culprits, or to a conviction of innocent persons who lack the capacity to defend themselves. What role can the Chief Justice play in attempting to help the improvement of criminal investigations? One way he can help is by taking a strongly pro-active role regarding fundamental rights applications, wherein the lack of discipline of the police will be exposed sharply. He could also try to expedite the process of hearing torture cases filed under Act, No. 22 of 1994, which are pending before the high courts. At the moment there are 27 such cases before the courts. A strong message must be sent to the police, that their lack of discipline will not be tolerated and that the police should ensure quality service to the victims of crime. A higher rate of conviction would become possible through hard evidence that cannot be shaken. If this is the course of action that the Chief Justice had in mind when he promised to increase the rate of convictions, it is quite laudable and such actions would be quite within the judicial jurisdiction. It would be hardly possible to imagine that the Chief Justice would want convictions without evidence. There is a tendency to call for arbitrary convictions even without evidence, in order to instill a fear of crimes. Such convictions are obtained when judges begin to ignore the principles of fair trial. One way of achieving these convictions is to pressure the alleged criminals to plead guilty to the crimes regardless of whether they have committed them or not. In exerting such pressure the silencing of the lawyers is essential. If the lawyers can be coerced into not providing high quality services for their clients, it is possible to get convictions without much evidence, since the prosecution case will not be challenged by competent counsel. This can ensure a high level of convictions, but the persons convicted are more likely to be substitutes to the actual criminals, presented to the court by the police. In such circumstances the police will exert their pressure in courts and corruption will thrive. The serious crimes will go unchallenged and powerful criminals will play prominent social roles. The victims of crimes will be deceived as due process will be manipulated to suit the requirements of a policing system that has failed to abide by basic norms and standards required by its profession. Cases of serious crimes are heard and determined in High Courts. Therefore the conviction or acquittal is determined by the trial judges. The increase or decrease of convictions is in their hands. The Supreme Court has no power over this except by way of dealing with appeals. The High Court judges will decide cases in terms of the evidence before them, not in terms of convicting certain percentages of cases that come before them. Setting such targets contradicts the very notion of the judicial role. With sufficient evidence every criminal brought before a court may get convicted. With insufficient evidence they will be acquitted. A judge is not an ideologue. A judge acts by the principles of justice which guarantee fair trial. It is not within the power of the executive or even the Chief Justice to set targets for judges regarding convictions. One would therefore assume that the Chief Justice's statement implies that he will try to address the root causes for the low rate of convictions in Sri Lanka. The basic and most common cause of such a low rate of convictions is the current state of the police service within the country. BASIL FERNANDO - via e-mail A new concept for the liberation of office workers from the confines of a secluded office has generated in the mind of the Minister of Public Adm., Reforms and Management. At a public function in Galle Kachcheri, he had said the system of time recording will be done away and the office workers will be given the liberty of coming to office as they wished and departure will be unrestricted as long as they perform their duties honestly and targetedly. Land and order in England was established after many trials and errors. Many a Reform Act was passed in Parliament and in the House of Lords to reach the present exemplary level of democracy and to maintain unity and harmony in the United Kingdom. The office systems evolved in the process were introduced to colonies by the Colonial Governors and their Chief Secretaries. The office systems, organisations and methodology handed over to us by them and successfully implemented up to now, with outmoded ones revised to meet our urgent needs, have been flawless and no 'village Hampden' has so far dared to desecrate or violate their provisions with impunity. A state employee holds office at the wish of the government and he should efficiently and diligently perform all the functions assigned to him to the best of his ability and to the satisfaction of the citizenry. If he has any problems concerning the assigned functions, he must state so and quit the job so that the Head of State may find yet another suitable person who would do the job ungrudgingly. At the moment the government has many plans to settle Civil strife, and economic development with special emphasis on industry, agriculture, tourism, trade etc. In such circumstances of supreme importance, if the office workers are in a relaxed movement, without any application for hard work at hard times, then we will invariably have to apply rigid disciplinary rules for their correction. No one should be allowed to come late or go early. The contemplation of liberality should be suspended till we have resolved all the threatening problems. There should not be any disaster management. L.G. ANDERSON- Galle. The report in Daily News of 10.10.2003 carried some remarks made by K. C. Kamalasabeyson, P.C. Attorney-General in the course of a lecture at a gathering of Old Thomians. He had indicated a warning of calamitous consequences arising from an acute shortage of judges and urged that to cope with the plethora and pressure of the workload involved there should be at least a 75 per cent increase in the number of judges in the trial courts. This news is not only of grave importance to the executive and the legislature but also calls for vigilance on the part of our enlightened civil society to constantly follow up the matters involved for the purpose of averting a complete breakdown in our litigation system resulting in anarchy. Among other blunders we have recently witnessed the hapless state of the Commission set up to investigate allegations of bribery or corruption. It has failed to catch the sharks due apparently to a lack of foresight in regard to the efficacy of the legislative provisions and the dilatory and lackadaisical approach to remove the disabilities by corrective legislative and/or administrative procedure. It is hoped that the same mistakes will not hamper the increase of judges as advocated by the Attorney-General. Apart from the prosecutions under consideration and those already set moving in the Courts by the hardworking efforts of Police officers and State Counsels, it is observed that orders of Courts have been prayed for by persons for obtaining justice in respect of harm that has arisen out of commission or omission on the part of the executive or politicians in the seats of power from time to time. Even though there is much to be done to achieve substantial progress in the field of public interest litigation, our judiciary has been the only citadel now left for many law-abiding citizens left in the lurch by the other organs of the State. This is because of the fact that the judiciary is impregnable to any foul play of politics. D. KURUNERU - Moratuwa Apropos the news item on President CBK's speech at the World Economic Forum recently. One wonders why the president talks only of people's failings? Negatives and criticisms always find their way into her vocabulary. She had not spared Ranil nor her very own brother, nor her own party. Since the UNF government came into power hardly a good word has come out of her mouth on anything which the Government had done, even though we are onto the twentieth month since cessation of hostilities and the share market had hit record levels. Washing dirty linen in public seems to be taking a new meaning in her attempts to soil the linen before washing it in the view of the international community. Whatever be her experience, perhaps the turn downs in Paris donor conference during her government, it is patriotism to safeguard our good image overseas. The Economic Forum of the G22 nations witnessed another of her strange spectacles where she criticised some of the countries, which included India, China, South Africa and Brazil, where she would have done well to mind her tirades during occasions which demanded tact before the negotiations started. While Ranil has build good relations with the international community, the president seems to be too keen to destroy the good work done so far. She of course took it too far with the media personality, Tim Sebastian of the BBC couple of years ago, and came a cropper at the wrong time to destroy her self image and that of her party. P.B.N. - Colombo 3 I read with amusement the comments by the President at the recent World Economic Forum. She is quoted as saying that "we do not believe in the magic formulae that brandish brilliant statistics achieved by a privileged few while the majority of our peoples languish in the ignominy of poverty". Was it really our President who made this statement. The very same person who presided over the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy. The same person who sent our young troops to war without the proper equipment and with no hope of defeating the LTTE whilst she enjoyed life. Is it the same person who appeared on the BBC World Hard Talk programme and proudly announced that over 43% of our children were malnourished? Is it the same person who wanted a President's mansion to be built at Kotte at great expense to the State and with gold taps and marble floors? And is it the same person who today works hard to stop the valiant efforts of our Prime Minister at every opportunity to help the poor masses? Whilst she enjoys her trips away lecturing the rest of the world on what they should and should not do and then returns home to the heavily guarded luxury of her mansion the rest of us have to survive on very little. I just wish she would be silent and let the Prime Minister get on with his job rather than trying to destroy his every effort. Dr. R. FERNANDO |
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