The Army has started an internal inquiry into the assault of a civilian at a fuel station in Kurunegala.
Video clips and still photographs of an army officer kicking a civilian have gone viral on social media and triggered shocked responses from the public.
The assault took place yesterday at the Yaggapitiya fuel station on the Kurunegala-Dambulla road.
Army Spokesman Brigadier Nilantha Premaratne said while most people had been waiting peacefully in a queue for fuel a few had started to use foul language on the army officers who had been deployed at the fuel station to provoke them. The assault took place after one of these men was hauled before the commanding officer.
Brigadier Premaratne confirmed that the name of the officer who kicked the civilian is Lieutenant Colonel Kumarasinghe, a Commanding Officer of 1 Sri Lanka National Guard.
Responding to a question if the assault by Lt. Col. Kumarasinghe was appropriate and justified Brig. Premaratne said it will be up to the army board inquiring into the incident, which is also comprised of army officers, to look into this.
Police have arrested three people in connection with it.
This latest incident comes on the heels of several others last week where the army and air force were involved. At the Galle Fort where Sri Lanka and Australia played their first cricket test the army unlawfully removed protesters from a public area and in Moratuwa, a group of air force officers assaulted a lone civilian.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has written to the Army Commander and the Inspector General of Police about the Galle incident. Soon after, two lawyers filed a fundamental rights violation petition in the Supreme Court.
