A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, June 6, 2017
India: After Years in Jail, Sri Lankan Set Free
Following
press release issued by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (
CHRI), an independent, non-partisan, international non-governmental
organisation, mandated to ensure the practical realisation of human
rights in the countries of the Commonwealth.
( June 6, 2017, Alwar/New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) A
66 year old Sri Lankan national who spent 4 years in jail waiting for
the completion of bureaucratic formalities, left for home a free man
today ( Jun 5, 2017).
Rocky D’Souza, who said he came to India in 2000 for business was
prosecuted for overstaying his visa period and completed his sentence on
3rd May, 2013.
His release was possible after an intervention by CHRI and collaboration
with the Sri Lankan Embassy in New Delhi, the Alwar Detention Centre in
Rajasthan and the Ministry of External Affairs. CHRI has followed this
case since August, 2016 and facilitated the process by pressing on the
authorities to provide the relevant documents and travel tickets
necessary for his return. This was issued in May, 2017. With only an
incomplete mobile number and no address, tracing his place of origin and
his family members was a challenging task.
When informed of his release, Rocky expressed gratitude and said he
“wanted to return to Colombo to help his mother settle a family property
dispute.”
Rocky’s detention, for the four years, like that of many others, was
illegal. Had procedural requirements such as prompt nationality
verification and consular access at the time of detention been complied
with, his wait for freedom would not have been delayed. His case
highlights the lacuna that exists in the policy for foreign national
prisoners, which leads to unnecessary complications in the repatriation
process.
Ms. Sanghmitra Singh, Project Officer with CHRI’s Access to Justice
(Prison Reforms) Programme who worked on this case says, “Unless the
Indian Government develops a time-bound legislation or guidelines for
repatriation, there will continue to be such cases of unjust, prolonged
detention.”
CHRI Director, Sanjoy Hazarika says that such cases highlight the
problem faced by foreign national prisoners in India. He said that
“Civil society organisations have to work together in collaboration with
the relevant stakeholders to bring freedom to such prisoners”.