On 6 March 2012, Mr. Asela Bandara Ihagama was forced to cancel the annual women's day event which he had organised for Commission for Justice, Peace, Human Development, Human Rights Secretariat in Kandy (SETIK-Caritas Kandy) following an order by the Office in Charge (OIC) of the Hatton police, prohibiting any public event to take place in Hatton from 6 to 8 March 2012. The event was to be held in Hatton on 7 March and all arrangements had been made when the police informed that the event should not be held at around 6.30 pm on 6 March. Around 500 women from the estate community were expected to participate in the event, which focused on violence against women, in particular domestic violence. The OIC told Mr. Ihagamathat no public gathering or celebration would be permitted since it would disrupt preparations for the women's day celebrations organised by the Government, in Hatton, to which over 5,000 Sinhala women from Anuradhapura and Pollonnaruwa were due to participate. The OIC said that all buses and vehicles would be prevented from entering Hatton town from 6 to 8 March and threatened that any gathering of more than five persons would result in arrests by the police. As a result, Mr. Ihagamaand his staff were forced to cancel the event planned for the following day and to return to the city of Kandy that night. Moreover, Mr. Asela Bandara Ihagama has been subjected to a series of threats, intimidation and surveillance by State intelligence officers since January 2012. On 29 January officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) visited his village and questioned neighbours about his work. On 9 February, Mr. Ihagama was questioned at his office by an officer from the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) who said that the TID had received information that Mr. Ihagama was working to support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) among the estate community and was providing information to international groups, including through their websites in order to discredit the Government. On 19 February 2012, at around 8 pm, a group of men in a white van were seen parked near a funeral house Mr. Ihagama had visited in the morning in his neighbourhood (around 30 meters from his house). When neighbours asked the men where they had come from and what they were doing there, they replied that they knew Mr. Ihagama and had come from Colombo. They also questioned the neighbours regarding Mr. Ihagama's work and the details of his family members. They left at around 10.15 pm. On 20 February 2012, men visited Mr. Ihagama's office in Kandy and asked the caretaker whether he was in office, telling him that that they were Mr. Ihagama's friends and wished to speak with him. The caretaker informed them that Mr. Ihagama had not come to office since it was a holiday on that day and offered to give him a message. The men refused to leave a message and left shortly after. Mr.Ihagama believes that these men were intelligence officers since any of his friends would have called him before visiting the office. At SETIK, Mr. Ihagama has been involved in documenting human rights abuses including torture and assisting victims of torture and rape and their families since 1998. In particular, he has provided information to international bodies and has campaigned actively to raise human rights awareness and against rights abuses, particularly among the Estate Tamils.