SRI LANKA: A gang rape victim suffers from police inaction

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned about the gang rape case of a 16 year old girl Miss. X (Name withheld). 

She was abducted by a wealthy man David Kaiser (21 years old) and gang raped by at least 5-6 men on 2 July 2003. Even though the police identified some perpetrators, they have taken no serious action to arrest and bring them before court. More seriously, the police tried to force the victim to change the complain statement, and when she refused, they omitted certain sections of the statement. Your urgent action is required to pressure the local authorities to arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible. 

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
——————————————————–

DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Miss X (Name withheld), 16, of Meewatura Peradeniya
Alleged perpetrators: David Kaiser (21 years old), his uncle Ravinathan (38 years old) and at least 5-6 unidentified men 
Date of incident: from 2 July 2003 until 3 July 2003 
Place of incident: Kengalle Digana in Kandy

Case details:

Miss X (Name withheld), 16, was abducted by David Kaiser, 21, on 2 July 2003 around 3:30 p.m. near the Queens Hotel. 

On 23 February 2003, David’s car knocked the victim’s hand when she was going to a computer class. Thereafter David called the victim several times in the pretext to know her condition and met her twice when she was going to class.

When he met the victim on 2 July 2003, David offered her a Coke. When she drank it, she felt dizzy. She wanted to go back home and David offered her a lift and pushed her into a van. Then, he took her to a house in Kengalle Digana. The victim was first raped by David and then by his uncle Ravinathan. She has been kept in that house the whole night and raped by at least 5-6 people. 

Because the perpetrators forced her to take drugs, the victim cannot identify all of the perpetrators and cannot clearly remember what went on until 10:00 a.m. of the next day. Among the gangsters, there was Arthur kularatne, 54, a doctor from Peradeniya Hospital. He took drugs with the other gangsters but the victim does not remember clearly whether he raped her. (The other perpetrators can be identified though him.) The next morning (3 July 2003), the driver (identified as Raja), David and the others took her back to the Peradeniya town and abandoned her on the street. From there she went back home by herself.

After finding out what happened to her daughter, the victim’s mother immediately went to the Peradeniya Police Station with the victim to lodge the complaint. After listening to the story, the police asked them to go to the Kandy Police Station where they finally made the complaint. At the same day, the victim, her mother and the aunt went in search of David, accompanied by the police. On 4 July 2003, she identified the house where she was raped. Later in the day she was admitted to the Kandy Hospital and was there from 4 July to 10 July 2003. After being discharged from the hospital, the Kandy police asked the victim to come to the police station to write down a statement. 

At the police station, a police officer Mr. Abeysinghe, and the Office in Charge (OIC) of the Crimes, Mr. Dharmaratne, forced her to change the complain statement saying that they would get Raviathan to marry her. Even though she has repeated the same complaint, the police omitted certain sections of the story. During an identification parade on the 6 August 2003, the victim identified Wasana and Prithi, who were in the van when she was taken. Both of them were arrested but were soon released on bail.

According to the victim, David and Ravinathan are partners of the Siddhalepa Company in Switzerland. So when the police went to arrest them on 3-4 July and on 11 July, both of them had already fled the country. During these visits by the police to arrest them, the police asked for money for petrol from the victim’s mother. The police even told the victim and her family that it was useless trying to arrest them, because they are wealthy and cannot be brought to justice. The police have yet to take serious action or investigate this matter, and no perpetrators have been punished. 

AHRC is gravely concerned about this the police inaction. Public intervention is necessary to ensure proper investigation, arrest and prosecution of the culprits. The police inaction and attempts to subvert the investigations need to be exposed. Higher police authorities should ensure the replacement of the present investigators. An immediate arrest and prosecution are essential. Meanwhile, the young girl and her family should be provided with protection, medical care and compensation. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the local authorities and request them to take speedy action on this matter. 

1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe 
Prime Minister 
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7 
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

2. Hon. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan 
Attorney General 
Attorney General’s Department 
Colombo 12 
SRI LANKA 
Fax: +94 11 2 436 421 
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net or counsel@sri.lanka.net

3. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC 
Chairman National Police Commission 
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7 
SRI LANKA 
Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 / 691 926 
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148

4. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Director
National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka 
No. 36, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8 
SRI LANKA 
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806 
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470 
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

5. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
OHCHR-UNOG
Palais Wilson, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND 
Fax: 41 22 917 9022

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER