Police mark 160th ‘remembrance day’ of fallen heroes

A monument erected showcases details of the early days of the Sri Lanka Police 

• The following is a press release issued by the Sri Lanka Police Media Division to mark the 160th Remembrance Day of their fallen heroes

Officer Sabhan’s name occupies the topmost place in the annals of Police Heroes as the first full-fledged police officer to make the supreme sacrifice with courage whilst on duty. The officer Sabhan’s life was taken on 21st March 1864, two years prior to the statutory establishment of Police. Mr. E. R. Saunders, who was appointed the Second Inspector General of Police of Sri Lanka, during his tenure as the Government Agent of the Kegalle area, erected a monument at the Mawanella Police Area on Colombo-Kandy Road in remembrance of the officer Sabhan, who succumbed to injuries from a gunshot fired by one of Saradiel’s accomplices, Mammale Marikkar, while attempting to apprehend Utuvan Kande Saradiel.
After 117 years since Saban’s demise, his heroic mission led to naming March 21 as the Remembrance Day of Police Heroes. After that, the demise of Police Constable 289, Officer K. Thambi Muttu, killed in 1894, has been recorded as a police officer who was killed in the line of duty, according to the list of Police Heroes.

Due to the prolonged war of thirty years, the Sri Lankan Police is the force that has sacrificed the most number of lives after the Sri Lanka Army. The number of police officers who died during that time is 2598, and the number of police officers who were rendered disabled during the war is 1575. The total number of police officers who sacrificed their lives while discharging the honourable duty of ensuring law and order in the country is 3157, and the number of retired officers having suffered disabilities while engaged in such duties is 44.
In a long line of fallen police heroes, starting with police hero Sabhan, the most recently recorded name was that of Police Sergeant 55457 Officer Rathnaweera Patabendige Sriyantha, who was shot dead during a night mobile patrol while he was going to arrest a suspect on 09.02.2024. Similarly, Probationary Police Constable 99033 Officer Krimashnamoorthy Weeradapan, attached to Police Station Ja-Ela, drowned while taking measures to arrest a suspect trying to escape from police custody by jumping into the stream that flows by the Police Station Ja-Ela, while he was about to be produced before the court on 23.11.2023. Furthermore, Probationary Police Constable 19498 Officer Angampodige Manoj Priyankara, while serving attached to the Police Station Cinnamon Gardens, under the Colombo Traffic Division, died after being run over by an errant motor vehicle by the Independence Square Roundabout, Cinnamon Gardens, on 05.10.2023, and such were some of the officers who extended the list of police heroes in recent times, bringing tears to our eyes.
Currently, law and order in the country is being maintained by police through traffic management, curbing road accidents, and suppression of vice and in addition to those, the drug menace, underworld threat, and organized crime gangs, which pose a threat not only to the young generation but also to the lives of all citizens regardless of their age or gender, are being suppressed under the Operation “Yukthiya”, functioning under the supervision of the newly appointed Inspector General of Police, Mr. Deshabandu Tennakoon. Serving justice to everyone eradicating all vices in due course has already become a part and parcel of the duties of the police officers. To that end, the police officers are performing their duties around the clock at the risk of their lives.

On the occasion of the 160th Remembrance Day of Police Heroes, which is to be celebrated with pride on 21.03.2024, it has been organised for 30 members of the families of police officers who died on duty due to terrorist activities and acts of maintaining law and order to offer floral tribute to the Police Heroes’ Memorial at Police Field Force Headquarters, together with the participation of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Deshabandu Tennakoon. At the same time, all arrangements have been made by the Police Welfare Division to award 50 gift vouchers to those 30 members of families and 20 retired police officers who have been rendered disabled due to terrorist activities and heroic acts to ensure law and order.
On Police Heroes’ Day, the officers of Sri Lanka Police who have fallen from time to time during the performance of duties valiantly to ensure law and order within the country and during the time of war waged during the past 30 years are remembered with awe and honour.

On the 160th Police Heroes Remembrance Day, we commemorate the police heroes who made the supreme sacrifice selflessly to preserve law and order within the country in defence of the freedom we enjoy today.
You shall always be remembered!