SRI LANKA: Inadequate police action into the sexual abuse of a girl

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Kandy Police Station has failed to take proper and prompt action into the complaint involving the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl on 2 June 2008. The police, instead of arresting the suspect and investigating the case, told the girl’s father to arrest the suspect by himself. The complainant has had to follow up the case repeatedly before the police made the arrest.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on the testimony of the victim’s father)

The victim, Ms X (name withheld as she is a minor), is nine years old and a grade 4 student at the Berrawatts College, Ampitiya, Kandy.

At 1pm on June 2, when she was on her way to home alone after school, a man nearby St. Joseph Vaas Church (Gal Palliya) asked her to come near the Church telling her: “your sister and school teacher were in the church”. She went towards the Church because she knew a school teacher who lives nearby. As soon as she approached the Church she found out there was no one there. She tried to leave but the man suddenly held her hand and covered her mouth with his hand to prevent her from screaming.

Then the man, who was later identified as 21-year-old Suranga Madushanka Fernando, took her inside the premises of the Church and lifted her up and dropped her over the fence before he jumped over as well. He violently pulled the girl’s underwear down before forcing her to lie on the ground. When the girl resisted him he made her stand then allowed her to put on her underwear. Suranga told her she could go home after warning her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

After this, Suranga returned her to the other side of the fence and asked her to go home. When she returned home at around 1:30pm, she started crying in front of her parents and her father’s elder brother telling them that she no longer wanted to go elsewhere by herself. She likewise told her parents what Suranga did to her. Her father went to the place where it happened but Suranga was no longer there.

The girl’s mother told her father to take her to the hospital to see a doctor and she was taken to see a doctor at the Kandy Hospital where she was admitted to the Children’s Ward. Her father was also told by the doctor examining his daughter to inform the hospital police about the incident. At 7pm, her father reported the incident to the police officers at the hospital. The officer took down a note from her father and asked him to make a complaint to the Kandy Police Station. That night he stayed in the hospital with his daughter.

On June 3, the girl and her family went back home after she was discharged from the hospital. After her father was informed by one of their neighbors that he knew who was responsible for sexually abusing his daughter, at 2pm he took her daughter to the Kandy Police Station to file a complaint.

But when they filed their complaint with the Child and Women’s unit under the same police station, a Women Police Constable (WPC) told the girl’s father to: “arrest the suspect and bring him by yourself”. She took only the girl’s name, address and the suspect’s address but did not write down the details of the incident. The said officer later informed him that she would go to the hospital to get details and investigate but she never conducted any investigation there.

At 5:50pm, four men, along with Suranga, went to the victim’s house and met her father. They allegedly tried to convince the victim’s parents he was not the person responsible for the attack. They allegedly said, “is this the person? This is a good person and he would not do such a thing”. The girl was not at home at that time.

Due to this reason that the police did not investigate and her father went to the Kandy Police Station in the morning of June 4 and met the WPC again. At 10:30am two WPCs including the officer who had received the complaint went to the house of the girl by a three-wheeler. The officers took a statement from the girl, her mother and her father. They also took all the clothes that the girl wore on the day of the incident. Then, the officers went back to the place of where the incident happened with the girl and her father. The officers told father of the girl that they would inform him once they arrested the suspect before they left.

On June 4, the police reportedly arrested the suspect. They summoned the girl and her mother at the police station for the purpose of identifying Suranga. The girl was able to positively identify him and he was then detained.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This is yet another incident wherein the police failed to take proper action into a case involving sexual abuse and rape reported to their police station.

On May 10 of this year, the police also refused take action into the complaint involving the rape of two girls by unidentified men. The whereabouts of one of the victims, who was abducted during the incident, remains unknown. For details please see: AHRC-UAC-111-2008.

In July 2007 also, the police have failed to arrest a father who allegedly sexually abused her own daughter. It is reported that the police did not arrest him due to private relationships with them (For details: AHRC-UAU-015-2008). There has not been any progress in this case as well.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below urging them to look into the failure of the police to promptly investigate complaints of sexual abuse of children; and to ensure that the person responsible is effectively prosecuted.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women calling for an intervention in this matter.

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