Police in Sri Lanka accused of falsifying teen’s age to cover up death

Sri Lankan police are facing new accusations of attempting to obstruct accountability following the fatal shooting of a Tamil teenager in Jaffna. Reports suggest that authorities misrepresented the boy's age and attempted to intimidate his family into silence.

The teenager, who was killed after Sri Lankan police opened fire on a vehicle in the Allaipiddy area of Kayts, has been confirmed by his family to be 17 years old. He has been identified as Albino Arul Pius, also known as Ayubraj Arul, from the Vaddukottai area. Family members state that he had been ferrying labourers in order to earn a living, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The shooting occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when police fired at a van that allegedly failed to comply with orders to stop. The boy, who was driving the vehicle, was struck by police gunfire and died from his injuries.

While Sri Lankan police initially issued a media release on the 10th stating that the deceased was 17 years old, a subsequent police media release issued on the 11th claimed that the boy was 19. The claim was widely reported in the southern Sri Lankan press.

The family has rejected this assertion, confirming that the teenager was born on November 9, 2008.

Based on his date of birth, the family states that he would only turn 18 after November 9 this year and was therefore 17 years and three months old at the time of his death.

Relatives have accused the police of deliberately altering the boy’s age in an apparent attempt to deflect public outrage over the killing of a child.

Further allegations have emerged that police sought to intimidate the family in the immediate aftermath of the shooting to prevent protests demanding justice.

According to the family, a person identifying himself as an officer from the occupying Vaddukottai police station contacted them by phone and asked whether they were planning to carry out protests using the boy’s body. The family responded that they had made no such arrangements.

The caller is alleged to have told the family:

“Do not protest now. If any politicians come, do not talk to them.”

The family has described this call as an indirect threat, aimed at pressuring them to conduct their son’s last rites without protest or public mobilisation.

Legal proceedings into the shooting are now underway, with inquiries being conducted in court. The incident has further intensified concerns among Tamils over violence, intimidation of victims’ families, and the lack of accountability for security force abuses in the Tamil homeland.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli