Indian national among inmates killed in Sri Lanka’s prison riots

An Indian national was among the inmates killed in Sri Lanka’s prison riots on Monday (July 6, 2026), Colombo-based official sources told The Hindu, identifying the victim as Unnikrishnan S., aged 73 years.  

The death toll from the riots —one of the most gruesome episodes of prison violence in the island’s history— rose to 28 on Wednesday (July 8, 2026), with one more prison officer succumbing to serious injuries. Over 100 people were injured in the riots.  

The High Commission of India has not yet issued an official statement on the death of the Indian national. Official sources in Colombo, however, confirmed that a note verbale on the incident was sent from the Indian mission to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Further, Indian nationals who were lodged at Negombo Prison —about 35 km north of Colombo and around 10 km from Bandaranaike International Airport— were transferred to other prisons, the sources said. 

The Hindu is yet to receive a response from Sri Lanka’s Department of Prisons and the High Commission of India for further information on the charges the deceased Indian national was facing and the number of Indian prisoners who were transferred from the Negombo facility.

Following the riots that began on Sunday (July 5, 2026) and spiralled out of control, nearly 1,200 prisoners from the Negombo prison were transferred to other prisons across the island for their safety. 

Complaints of torture 

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said it was informed that several inmates had been transferred to other prison facilities Angunakolapelessa, Boosa, Batticaloa, Dumbara, Jaffna, and Welikada, to separate them from other inmates and to ensure their protection. 

Further, it received information Tuesday evening (July 07, 2026) “that several inmates who had been transferred to the abovementioned facilities had been subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment“, and on the “death of an inmate in the custody of Welikada prison officials”, the Commission said in a statement on Wednesday (July 8, 2026).  

Earlier, the Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners, an activists’ network advocating for humane treatment of inmates, flagged reports of “assault’ and “severe physical torture”. The government is yet to respond to the allegations, but a senior official who requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity around the developments, told The Hindu: “We are receiving multiple reports, there are some rumours circulating as well. We are taking these concerns very seriously and looking into the matter.” The official did not confirm or deny the allegations.  

Sri Lankan authorities have maintained that Monday’s riots (July 6, 2026) were triggered by a clash between rival gangs, after some inmates tipped off prison authorities about a drug operation inside the facility. Addressing the Parliament on Tuesday, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said that Sri Lanka’s prison system has faced “longstanding problems”. He urged everyone to “work together, in the name of humanity to ensure that such tragedies never happen again.” 

Sri Lanka’s prisons, which have been grappling with challenges of chronic overcrowding and lack of resources, last witnessed a deadly riot in 2020 at Mahara, north of Colombo, where 11 inmates died. A decade earlier, in 2012, a riot at Colombo’s Welikada Prison ended with police fatally shooting 27 inmates.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, a professional body of lawyers, said the recent tragedy must not be viewed as an isolated incident. “Rather, it is symptomatic of longstanding structural deficiencies within Sri Lanka’s prison system and the broader administration of criminal justice,” it said in a statement, underscoring that “persons deprived of their liberty do not forfeit their fundamental rights or their inherent dignity.”