2023-07-24
The caste-based society could assure its permanence only through a persistent use of disproportionate punishment over a long period of time, long enough to create the fear that is embedded into all aspects of the mind and the soul of those considered inferiors so that they would voluntarily submit themselves to whatever conditions of depravation or limitations prescribed for them by their superiors.
It is this factor that needs to be understood in the loss of the power of resistance that has over and over again manifested itself in Sri Lanka over a long period of time. On the other hand, whenever there is a manifestation of a resistance and a protest, those who hold authority in Sri Lanka, even after Independence, have shown a capacity for the use of extraordinary forms of cruelty against its own people. For example, in recent decades, Sri Lanka is nearly at the top of the list of countries where enforced disappearances have been used as a punishment, directly or indirectly, authorised by the State itself. Enforced disappearances mean, as studies have revealed in Sri Lanka, in overwhelmingly, most of the cases, the killing of people following their arrest. Though the killing of a prisoner or a person taken into State custody is considered in modern international law as a heinous crime, there is no strong condemnation of this practice by the Sri Lankan State despite global and local condemnations. Torture and cruel and inhuman treatment are very much an integral part of policing in Sri Lanka. Though vast bodies of documentation have been done on these matters, there is no change of this practice and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka had to declare many times about the frequency of the practice of torture and also about the repeated practice of extrajudicial killings.
Thus, the idea of uneven and disproportionate punishment is one of the major characteristics of Sri Lanka’s system of justice even to date. There is no indication at all that there would be any change about this matter in the near future.
The caste-based society rooted in the two principles, namely prohibition against social mobility, and disproportionate and unequal punishments, has absolutely rejected any foundational notion of justice. In the caste-based culture of Sri Lanka, there is no room for the idea of justice. Today more than ever, there is almost universal consensus of a completely failed system of justice in Sri Lanka. The policing system has come under the severest forms of criticism, from among the people, even from the Parliament and this criticism has got expressed even through the Inspector General of Police (IGP) himself (Chandana D. Wickramaratne). Without doubt, this is an atrocious system. In many parts of the country, some Police officers are considered as being part and parcel of serious criminal activity in the country. Even in the debate about the selection of an IGP, the question that has come to the forefront is about the alleged criminal records of some of the contenders to this position. On the other hand, the once prestigious Attorney General’s Department has lost much of its prestige. There are public criticisms of it being driven by extraneous factors. The Constitution itself has undermined the independent role of the Judiciary and many statutory laws have been used in order to deprive the Judiciary of certain powers to intervene to protect the liberty of the individual. It is not the purpose here to go into a detailed statement of the present state of the justice system in Sri Lanka. The purpose of the reference to the present is only to demonstrate that the principles on which the caste system was based still operate powerfully within the present circumstances. The universal notions of justice find very little expression in Sri Lanka despite over 200 years of attempts to introduce such a universally valid principle. The caste-based habits and the caste consciousness have prevailed despite all such attempts.
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