That bullet wasn’t intended for her

A Police officer’s bullet fired at a criminal gang kills a sleeping passenger in a bus. What happens when cops kill innocent people?

Iresha Shyamali was exhausted from a two-day pilgrimage in Anuradhapura. Soon after boarding the bus to Colombo, she collapsed into the corner seat and promptly fell asleep, clutching her bag. The bus was simply passing the Danowita area with dozens more passengers like Iresha. 

In a blink of an eye, a bullet fired into  a nearby street, from a policeman’s rifle, took the life of Iresha. The bullet struck Iresha in the head when police started firing at a group of robbers travelling in a van following the bus.

The bullet wasn’t intended for her. In an incident that the police spokesman called ‘tragic and devastating’, police fatally shot twenty-nine-year-old Iresha who was sleeping, oblivious to the chaos around her, in a moving bus during a dramatic confrontation with the group of robbers in Danowita, Gampaha on October 2, 2022. 

An incident that the police spokesman called ‘tragic and devastating’, police fatally shot twenty-nine-year-old Iresha who was sleeping, oblivious to the chaos around her, in a moving bus during a dramatic confrontation with the group of robbers in Danowita, Gampaha on October 2, 2022

Whether a person was cleaning their gun, dropped their gun, or claiming that the gun malfunctioned, resulting in a bullet being fired, if a person is hit with a bullet, criminal charges are likely to follow

IGP Chandana Wickramaratne recently revealed that there are over 4,000 policemen in the Sri Lankan Police who are physically unfit to carry out their duties

Sri Lanka Police is mandated to uphold and enforce the law of the land, to preserve public order, and prevent crime with prejudice to none – equity to all

Iresha’s family, overcome with grief after the sudden loss of Iresha, now seem unmoored, as if a hurricane had blown away the frameworks of their lives. Her brother Prasad Kumara, who was in the same bus, says “We are shocked. 

It’s as if someone stole our sister from us. For the police, it may be just another life. But for us, she was our whole world. I want justice for her. There is no reason my sister should be dead.” 

Whether a person was cleaning their gun, dropped their gun, or claiming that the gun malfunctioned, resulting in a bullet being fired, if a person is hit with a bullet, criminal charges are likely to follow. On the day of the incident, the police officers who were not even aware that their misfire killed an innocent girl visited Wathupitiwala Hospital after her lifeless body was brought in. 

The family criticizes that to date no one from Sri Lanka Police officially made any contact with them over the incident. “We didn’t even get an apology. If I accidentally hit an innocent man on the road and if that man dies, can I get away with no legal action? As far as I am concerned, the law doesn’t allow that. The same law that punishes a common man should apply to the Police if they make fatal mistakes like that. A life was lost here,” is where Prasad stands.

Days before her untimely death, Iresha was eagerly awaiting the graduation ceremony of her Master’s degree in Business Administration. An accounts executive by profession, she was taking care of her ageing, sick parents while her elder siblings had been living separately in their marital residences. 

The IGP pointed out that there are about 4,000 policemen who are not at the required level of health for a long period of time

According to what the Police told the media, the gunshot that killed Iresha was intended to hit the van which is a buddy van. However, there is a noticeable gap in height, between the top of the bus seat where the bullet had entered and where the buddy van was. The police officer who fired the gun reportedly has made a terrible mistake which not only killed Iresha but put every other passenger travelling in the bus at risk.

 “She was very studious. Everyone loved her because she had the biggest heart. Be it a human or animal, she would go to any length to be kind and help anyone in need. We did not know how a bullet hit our sister. She had no enemies. The bus was moving at the time of the incident. Nobody saw what happened. Only when we heard the news, we came to know what happened to our little sister,” Prasad went on describing what happened that day.

Everyone was sleeping when the shots were fired. Prasad was woken by the booming sound, but he thought it was the firecrackers due to the Katina season. “Then we saw our sister bleeding from her nose. We screamed to stop the bus. When we checked, her body was lifeless,” he recalled.  

Iresha had already breathed her last by the time she was brought to the Wathupitiwala Hospital. 

Emergency personnel and other government forces are usually protected in the performance of their duties from liability. This includes the firefighter who destroys others’ property while trying to fight a blaze or the police officer who inadvertently shoots an innocent person while lawfully pursuing a dangerous suspect. 

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Director for Policy and Programme, Asian Human Rights Commission Attorney-at-Law, Basil Fernando, said, as a result, these individuals and others would escape personal criminal and civil liability in most instances for mistakes or intentional actions that were reasonable under the circumstances. Similarly, the organizations for which these people work are often protected by similar legal principles. 

The police officer who fired the gunshots reportedly has made a terrible mistake which not only killed Iresha but put every other passenger travelling in the bus at risk

He added that police officers should be subject to fairly stringent performance reviews and internal discipline policies. In many jurisdictions, any officer involved in a shooting is immediately suspended while the incident is investigated. “If the investigation determines that the officer acted improperly, he can be suspended, fired, or, in rare cases, charged criminally,” Fernando said.

Sri Lanka Police is mandated to uphold and enforce the law of the land, to preserve public order, and prevent crime with prejudice to none – equity to all. However, it is not the first instance where concerns have been raised regarding police officers escaping personal criminal and civil liability in certain circumstances.

Former Human Rights Commissioner Prof. Prathiba Mahanamahewa opined that since the shooting was an accident, it has to be proved through an internal inquiry.  

It also has to be asserted if there was any negligence on the part of the police officer, whether he acted in accordance with the code of conduct and did everything in his capacity to prevent such fatal mistakes while holding a weapon like a gun.

It has to be proved through an internal inquiry, asserting if there was any negligence on the part of the police officer, whether he acted in accordance with the code of conduct and did everything in his capacity to prevent such fatal mistakes while holding a weapon like a gun

However, Prof. Mahanamahewa underlined that even if a formal inquiry ruled out the shooting as an accident, some justice has to be meted out to Iresha’s family who were depending on her income. 

He also mentioned that this “accidental shooting” can boil down to the training of police officers. “Well-trained police officers will never make such fatal mistakes. In some countries, there are funds to compensate such victims. But, we don’t have any similar programme here.”

Meanwhile, IGP Chandana Wickramaratne recently revealed that there are over 4,000 policemen in the Sri Lankan Police who are physically unfit to carry out their duties. The IGP revealed this at the consultative committee meeting of the Public Security Ministry a few months ago.

Thus, the IGP pointed out that there are about 4,000 policemen who are not at the required level of health for a long period of time. Therefore the subject minister Tiran Alles has advised the Sri Lanka Police department to prepare the necessary proposal regarding the removal of the policemen who lack the required level of health for a long period of time and forward it to the ministry. Accordingly, the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Security focused on terminating the service of those policemen who have not fulfilled the required medical standards.

The Members of Parliament who were in the committee said that there are many officers in the Police service whose health condition is not sound for a long time and therefore, they do not engage in difficult duties following the submission of medical certificates.