The Kamalasabayson I knew

A perspective of a fellow Thomian and policeman

Kamalasabayson fondly known to us as “Kamale” at S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia was an amiable personality. When I was prompted to put pen to paper to record a few of the personal episodes I have had with Kamale, I felt compelled to record my familiarity with Kamale as I thought it could serve as additional facets to his admirable qualities that have been recorded by others in the many articles and talks. Hence I travel down memory lane, the results of which I give in anecdotal form.

Kamale went down into the history books of the College as the only boy to receive “Six of the Best” -- the deliverance of six sharp strikes with a rattan to the buttocks of the errant boy, on his first day at College. So was Kamalasabayson christened on his first day at the eminent S. Thomas’ College. Little did Canon De Saram know at the time that his ward would go on to hold the highest Government Office in the country, an office that was associated with enforcement of the Law of the Land.

Kamalasabayson the schoolboy

Though he was one year junior to me in College, we were very close friends. Kamale was known for his humility. At college functions, he was unpretentious enough to recall the day when he flunked the Grade 4 entrance examination to S. Thomas’ College and how his father, a well-known philanthropist produced him before the warden (principal) Canon de Saram, whom he knew personally, pleaded with him to admit his son. On the Warden declining to admit him, the father left Kamale at the Warden’s Office after telling the Warden that he could ‘do whatever he wanted with his son and that he would not take him back home if he was not admitted to S. Thomas’ College’. Those were the days when school admission to the prestigious S. Thomas’ College depended on matters such as connection of the parents with the school, whether family members had been alumni, the social standing of the family and a cursory assessment of the capability of the child. Young Kamalasabayson found himself kicking his heels outside the warden’s office after his father had abandoned him there. After some time the kind warden told Kamale to go to the 4th Form and attend class. Poor Kamale found himself rather out of place and feeling like a fish out of water was at his wits end to find out what he was supposed to do next. He soon gathered from his new found friends that the next period was to be ‘Practical Sinhala’ and that the teacher would be the redoubtable “Polweera” -- a nickname with which the schoolboys referred to C.S. Weerasinghe, who was considered a ‘terror’ by the boys. Since the teacher had not yet arrived in class to take the lesson, the boys were playing around in gay abandon when suddenly, out of the blues, Warden Canon De Saram appeared. He was perhaps doing a ‘round’ of the school and dropped by at the 4th Form class to check whether his newly admitted student had found his class safely and settled in.

As can be expected everyone froze! Canon inquired from the boys, “What is the next subject that you are supposed to have?” “Sinhala, Sir,” answered someone. The next question was, “Who is your master?”... At that time our friend was not going to miss this opportunity to show the good Canon that he was well settled-in and that knew he knew what was going on in the Class. He blurted out, as loud as possible, “Polweera Sir!”

There was pin-drop silence since quite unaware that he had dropped a brick, the new boy had transgressed all norms of the College by referring to a teacher by his nickname, a fact poor Kamale had not known at the time. It was then that Kamale realised that he had ‘pushed the wrong button’ and try as he may to find out what had happened, he was met by his mates with stonewall silence, but perhaps with tinge of admiration that this boy had the ‘guts’ to call a teacher by his nickname before the warden himself. The Canon in a sharp crispy voice said, “Go to my office Kamalasabayson.”

His classmates felt great sympathy for Kamale because they knew ‘the death sentence’ had been passed. Those were the days of ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’, when corporal punishment was meted out to a student suspected of undesirable behaviour.

To cut a long story short, Kamale went down into the history books of the College as the only boy to receive “Six of the Best” -- the deliverance of six sharp strikes with a rattan to the buttocks of the errant boy, on his first day at College. So was Kamalasabayson christened on his first day at the eminent S. Thomas’ College. Little did Canon De Saram know at the time that his ward would go on to hold the highest Government Office in the country, an office that was associated with enforcement of the Law of the Land.

(Rudyard Kipling in ‘if ’) Kamale was a person who was readily accessible to any person, who had been caused injustice. The dignity and grandeur of office did not prevent him from reaching out to the poorest of the poor and destitute. I was personally aware of several instances where destitute persons, who could not afford legal representation, meeting Kamale and obtaining relief. One such case was the torture and degrading treatment meted out by Ankumbura Police in Kandy Police Division to one Chamila Bandara, a minor aged 17, over an alleged theft. The injuries complained by the minor were corroborated by the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital Judicial Medical Officer who observed that the nerves of the boy’s upper limbs were affected due to his being hung by the arms. Whereas the Police refuted the allegation and in support produced a medical report of the Ankumbura Judicial Medical Officer, who was said to have examined the youth minutes before he was produced before the Magistrate. The report stated that there were no injuries found on examination of the youth.

Since the two reports were sharply contradictory, Attorney General Kamalasabayson summoned me to his office and requested me to conduct an investigation under my personal supervision since he felt that the allegation of the complainant appeared truthful and that the poor boy should be given due relief. Since the Attorney General had shown an interest in the case, I went personally to Ankumbura Hospital to record the JMO’s statement. He said the police produced before him a youth saying his name was Chamila Bandara and that on examination of the youth produced, he did not find any injuries. However, the doctor admitted that the Police had not produced any identification documents to establish that the youth produced was Chamila Bandara. He also admitted that he had not taken the finger prints of the youth at the time and hence could not declare conclusively that it was in fact Chamila Bandara whom he examined. The findings of this investigation proved useful later to support the claim of the injured youth to obtain compensation.

All are equal before the law

I am also aware of even police constables approaching him and obtaining relief.

Whilst I was the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in charge of the Police Legal Range there were several complaints by Senior Superintendents (SSPs) that only a selected few with political patronage were repeatedly sent on scholarships to a Western Country. At departmental promotion boards, these officers were given additional marks for having received special training during scholarships.Shortly after I received these complaints, the office of DIG Personnel sent me a list of names to ascertain whether the officers mentioned therein, who were to be considered eligible for scholarships, had any court cases, or inquiries pending against them, which could disqualify them from eligibility. When perusing the list sent to me, I observed that in this list were several politically favoured officers, who repeatedly went on scholarships and that their current job responsibilities were not related to the scholarships awarded. An SSP who had been politically victimised immediately obtained a stay order from the Court of Appeal against the Police Department proceeding with the award of the scholarships.

The very next day two officers of the foreign mission concerned sought an appointment with Inspector General of Police, the DIG Personnel and I as DIG/ Legal. We met at the IGP’s office.

At the meeting the officers from the Foreign Mission asked us how court could have issued the stay order if the selection processes was correct. They also pointed out that there were only three days left for the list to be sent for onward processing in their country, failing which no more scholarships could be awarded to Sri Lanka Police. The DIG Personnel replied that even though the correct process had been adopted, some jealous officers have misrepresented facts to court and obtained the stay order. I interrupted saying that I did not believe that the process was fair as notices of such scholarship were not circulated, applications not called, interviews not held and almost all the current job responsibilities of the officers earmarked for the scholarship, were not consonant with the training envisaged in the scholarship. The embassy officials then asked me whether the stay order could be withdrawn within three days if the proper selection process was adopted. I immediately called the Attorney General’s Office from the office of the IGP, and explained matters to Mr. Kamalasabayson. I also described the ‘due process’ vis-ã-vis the selection and the recommendations I made.

Mr. Kamalasabayson gave a patient hearing, assessed the situation quickly and instructed that we, the Police, give the officers from the foreign mission the undertaking that the stay order would be removed. The due process was followed in the fresh selection and the AG kept his word and had the stay-order removed. Consequently Justice was done where the scholarships were concerned. Deserving officers were selected.

The law is blind to political or personal affiliations

In another incident, an important government political personality wanted to promote a DIG to the rank of Senior DIG so that he would be eligible to qualify for the post of IGP at a later date. This would mean the candidate would have to be promoted as Senior DIG over and above another DIG who was perceived to have double-crossed the political party of this important personality. This DIG, through his subservient service at that time, had even managed to secure a 20-acre state land by a stream in the Wayamba District on a 99-year lease from such politician.

However, subsequently when the Government was replaced by this DIG’s originally favoured party he had again begun flirting with the new Government, which had infuriated the top politico who wanted him interdicted through an investigation that was instituted against him. Political ‘double criss-crossing’ was not unusual amongst officers in pursuit of power and office. Though the allegations in the inquiry that was carried out lacked any cogent evidence, the inquiring officer recommended the interdiction of the ‘crisscrossing’ DIG. This recommendation had to be approved by the Attorney General. This purportedly culpable DIG sought my help. Since the inquiry that had been conducted lacked the evidence to serve interdiction on DIG concerned, I presented the facts to Attorney General Kamalasabeyson. After studying the facts, he concurred with my view and subsequently notified the authorities concerned, that the evidence presented did not warrant interdiction. In this action Mr. Kamalasabayson had to rise above political and personal considerations to ensure that justice was done.

As a result, the double crossing DIG too was promoted as Senior DIG and finally became IGP.

-(William Wordsworth in The Happy Warrior)

Another matter of importance was furnishing of Householders information in terms of Regulations 23 (1) of the Emergency “Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers” Regulation No: 01 of 2005 as amended.

This Regulation was of utmost importance in the fight against terrorism to curb terrorists entering Colombo and to monitor strangers.

However since proper procedures were not laid down by the Police in collecting such householders lists and relevant information, this regulation was utilised by unscrupulous elements in the Police for unjust harassment and corruption/ enrichment.

This was a nightmare for many. For instance, people from far away districts such as Jaffana, Mannar, Wanni, Tricomallee, Batticaloa and Amparai came to Colombo mostly late evening. They travelled by day on account of the on-going terrorist activities and civil disturbances. They were subject to delays at several check points. Finally when they arrive in Colombo, it was invariably late in the evening and lodging information in the Households List to the Police the same day of their arrival became well-nigh impossible. Moreover at the Police Station there was only one sergeant or a constable assigned to record such information. The public have to stand in long queues for several hours and if such PC or PS was out of the station then there was no one available to receive the Households lists. On several occasions, after having stood in the queue they had returned to their places of temporary residence, unable to lodge their list. They faced the predicament of being taken into custody by the Police if the Police conducted a search in the night. I am aware of several persons including women with their infants being taken into custody late at night and languishing haplessly at Police stations and detention centres due to no fault of theirs.

Some lodge owners capitalised on the predicament of persons seeking lodging in their premises. They, on identifying some person going abroad, and hence obviously having money with them, would inform police officers known to them. The Police would take such persons into custody and extort money. I personally confronted a Senior Gazetted Officer of an important Police institution for engaging in such activity with a lodge owner. To minimise the rigours or harshness of the operation of this procedure, Attorney General Kamalasabayson formulated a set of rules which were; (1). The chief occupant of the household could inform the Police even in advance of the impending arrival of the guests to his house. (2). Provisions be made at each police station to have a box to drop in such Householders List and the copy to be retained by the chief occupant, which satisfies the requirement of informing the Police. Furthermore, since the householders form distributed by the Police was not in keeping with the spirit of the Emergency Regulation and tended to probe the ethnic aspect of the applicants and their financial standing. In this context Attorney General Kamalasabayson issued a directive in March, 2007 to the IGP on the particulars to be sought in the householders form. He labours good on good to fix, and owes To virtue every triumph that he knows: - Who, if he rise to station of command, Rises by open means; and there will stand On honourable terms, or else retire,

Kamale did what he thought was right, refusing to be guided by other considerations. This did not find favour with the powers that be of the time and he had the misfortune of being constrained to retire at the age of 58 years, two full years short of his retirement age.

With him left several young brilliant state counsel who were disillusioned with his premature retirement.

The last adieu

- (Tha Happy Warrior)

I met Kamale almost daily after his retirement, on the walk at Police Park early mornings, which I encouraged him to do, especially after he was diagnosed with cancer. I was to join his chambers as his junior after my retirement from the Police. When leaving for treatment to India for cancer, he told me “I do not know whether I will be back in a box”.

He was not offered any funds by the state. Whilst hospitalised in India I spoke to him over the phone every other day for about 3 to 5 minutes. On the last occasion I called him, he said he was tired and went off the line in a few seconds. I did not disturb him thereafter and wanted to call him on the fourth day, but he passed away on the third day. His family, friends, the poor and the country have lost a great son.

Jayakumar Thangavelu (Attorney at Law and Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police)