Untitled - International Commission of Jurists

ii. Persons removed by alleged agents of the state (police, army, etc.) or paramilitary
groups in collaboration with them or subversives or unknown persons
invading the residence etc, of the corpus and killing corpus. 291
It was pointed out 292 that although "the killing" in the above was not preceded by an
involuntary removal in a physical sense, this fine distinction could not shield the case
from the Commission’s investigation without offending common sense. The
Commission cited the following illustration.
Illustration
A tenant cultivator from Embilipitiya had gone to the paddy field. On his
return home he found two of his sons had been burnt alive inside the house. A
third son had been removed. The cultivator’s wife and his daughters who were
waiting at the doorstep had not been able to identify the perpetrators of these
acts.
A strict and, in the Commission’s view, nonsensical reading of the mandate would
include the case of the son who had been removed but not the two sons burnt alive.
Consequently, the Commission concluded that a liberal reading of the mandate was
warranted. 293
A third category of admissible cases was defined by the following factors.
a. The surrounding circumstances and/or climate of the times
b. The personal antecedents and/or socio-economic and socio-political
involvement of the victim.
Illustrations – ‘Disappearances’
Victim had gone to the market place/junction/friend's or relative's place to
attend a function/work place/some other errand on the day in question where
there had been an official curfew or a curfew imposed by subversives/the
complaint being "I think my son/husband/Friend/relative must have been taken
away by the Police/Army/subversives." 294
Illustrations - 'Killings'
a. Unknown persons had thrown a bomb at a Hindu Kovil. A woman street
dweller who had been in the vicinity had become a victim of this act.
b. One rainy night unknown persons had left a parcel near a playground of a
school. The following day three children meddled with this parcel, which
turned out to be a bomb. On the bomb going off the children had died.
c. A large number of cases where the corpora had been found killed on a road
side; near a paddy field; on and under bridges; tied to lamp posts and trees; or
burnt on tyre pyres etc. 295
In these cases the evidence revealed circumstances similar to those referred to in
illustrations given in regard to disappearances above. The Commission was therefore
291 ibid.
292 ibid.
293 ibid.
294 ibid.
295 ibid, at p.7.
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