Tamil youth dies after Sri Lankan police arrest, family allege state brutality

A 23-year-old Tamil youth from Batticaloa has died after being assaulted by Sri Lankan police according to his family, prompting renewed calls for accountability amid persistent allegations of Sri Lankan state brutality in the region.

Batticaloa parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam was among those to demanded an independent investigation into the death of Sivanesarasa Rinoshan, a resident of Chinnaupoda, who died days after his arrest by the occupying Sri Lankan police in Batticaloa.

Rinoshan was taken into custody on 2 December in connection with an alleged bicycle theft. According to a statement shared by Rasamanickam on his official X account on Sunday (7), Rinoshan’s family last saw him at the police station at around 7.00 pm on the day of his arrest. At the time, they said he appeared to be in normal physical condition.

However, when Rinoshan was produced before court on 3 December, his family claimed he showed clear signs of having been assaulted while in police custody the previous night. He was subsequently remanded.

On 5 December, Rinoshan was transferred from remand prison to hospital. He died two days later.

While Sri Lankan police have claimed that Rinoshan’s death resulted from complications linked to the use of narcotics, his family has strongly rejected this narrative, alleging instead that he was subjected to police brutality during interrogation.

Rasamanickam stressed that any investigation must be independent and free from the involvement of the Batticaloa police, warning that past inquiries have repeatedly failed to deliver justice to Tamil families affected by custodial deaths.

Meanwhile, Rinoshan’s mother, speaking through tears, demanded accountability for her son’s death.

“My son is gone,” she wailed. 

“Why did they do this to my son? My son deserves justice. No one should ever have to endure what we are going through. I wanted him to be safe and unharmed. But now he is no longer with us”.

In his statement, Rasamanickam noted that this is not the first such death reported in Batticaloa, pointing to a pattern of recurring allegations of abuse and deaths in police custody, while accountability continues to remain absent.