SRI LANKA: Protection urgently needed for the family of a rape victim

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the case of the rape of a 17-year-old girl after her abduction allegedly by a politician on 17 December 2007. While the Biyagama police have commenced an investigation into this case they have failed to secure the family’s safety despite the fact that they are receiving threats. In addition, the victim and her family are entitled to know the progress of the case however, the police have not provided any information to them.

CASE DETAILS: (based on the affidavits submitted by the victim and her mother)

On 17 December 2007, a 17-year-old Ms. Y (name withheld for security reason) suffered a chest pain while she was working in “Ceramic World” Biyagama. Her employer arranged medical treatment for her and after getting permission from her supervisor, she left at about 7pm.

While she was walking towards the boarding house, she noticed that someone was following her. She looked back and saw four men following her; she attempted to run but three of the men caught her while the fourth pressed a white colored handkerchief soaked with an unknown substance over her nose. Before she lost consciousness she heard a vehicle stopping nearby.

When she regained consciousness she was lying on a bed in a room. She saw the Deputy Chairman Pradeshiya Sabaha (Provincial Council) Weligepola and his friend both of whom she named in her affidavit sitting at the end of the same bed drinking alcohol. She was still dressed in all her clothes and as she tried to open the door and escape they caught her and threw her back on the bed. She lost consciousness again and could not remember what happened after that.

When she regained consciousness she found that she was lying on the bed with a sheet thrown over her naked body. The Deputy Chairman was there and he was half naked. Ms. Y then saw her clothes on the bed and started to get dressed while crying and asking the man “Why did you do this to me?” In answer the Deputy Chairman broke an empty arrack bottle and held it to her neck saying “If you dare to tell anyone about this incident I will kill you and every one in your family.” The victim was terrified and pleaded with him to let her go and return her to the boarding house. Then, the Deputy Chairman ignored her plea and again threatened her.

At 7am on December 18, the Deputy Chairman took her out of the room after covering her face so that no one would be able to recognize her. He took her to his friend’s three-wheeler. On her way out she noticed a board with the word ‘Guest House’ written in English. They dropped the victim at the cross road near her boarding house, threatening her for a third time that “If she reports the incident to anyone that they will kill her and everyone in her family”.

The victim went to her boarding house. She did not tell any one of the incident because of the death threats made by the Deputy Chairman.

On December 18, the victim’s mother came to see her and finding her looking very sick asked her to take medicine. The victim had then told her that she preferred not to do so since medication made her even more uncomfortable. She managed to work for two days but asked for one week’s leave due to ill health on December 21 with the intention that she would not return to work during that time. However since she had not paid her boarding fees she had to return to the boarding house on 29 December. The matron was not there and she had to wait till 31 December to pay her boarding fees and return home.

On 13 January 2008, the victim’s mother was asked to meet her sister and her husband P.K. Premadasa who advised her not to let Ms. Y live in the village but to take her and go less great harm would befall her. When the victim’s mother demanded to know the reason for this they refused to tell her but repeated that she should take the girl and leave the village. 

When the victim’s mother returned home she asked her daughter what all these statements meant. She then broke down crying and told her mother everything that had happened. The victim’s mother then phoned police emergency number 119, and made a complaint regarding the incident and left the village with her daughter on January 14.

A little while later the mother’s sister informed her by phone that the police had arrived. The police officer, speaking on the same phone advised her to go to the Godakawela Police Station and make a complaint about the incident. The victim and her mother took a bus to the Godakawela police station but while on the way the victim received a mobile phone call in which she was threatened that if she so much as opened her mouth to say anything against the Deputy Chairman, she would be killed.

At 10pm they reached the police station. However, the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Crimes Branch Godakawela, told them that since the crime had been committed in Biyagama that they should make a complaint at the Biyagama Police Station. The victim’s mother also informed him that her daughter received a death threat on her mobile phone on their way to the police station and gave him the number of the incoming call as registered on the phone.

Even though the Godakawela police refused to record the complaint, due to the mother’s insistence a female officer was instructed to record the complaint at about 11pm. The mother was not allowed to come near her while the complaint was recorded. The victim was told to sign the complaint but was not allowed to see what was written. Neither were they given the serial number of the complaint even though they requested it. After the complaint, the female officer and two other officers took the victim to be admitted to the Godakawela District Hospital.

The victim was warded and given medical treatment. While she was so warded, a friend of the Deputy Chairman came to the hospital and suggested that they would settle the matter saying that “we are all people of the same village”. However the victim’s mother did not accept any settlement.

The victim was transferred to the Ratnapura General Hospital by the hospital ambulance on January 16. During the hospital visiting hours in the afternoon, an unknown young man came in to the ward and having asked who the victim was and told her that the Deputy Chairman had come and is waiting near the gate and to go and meet him. However, when the victim told this to her mother, the mother held the young man by hand and wanted to know more information which he did not provide but simply went away. On January 17, a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) declared that the victim had been raped and mentioned that if expert evidence was needed in court to forward the documentation provided.

On January 18 when the victim’s father was returning home after visiting her in hospital two persons known to be friends the Deputy Chairman and five others blocked his way and tried to assault him with a bottle. However he managed to evade the assault. On January 19, the victim was discharged from the hospital with referrals to medical clinics.

During this period the Biyagama police sent a message to the victim’s mother to come with the victim and lodge a complaint at the Biyagama Police Station. The victim’s mother went to the police station on the same day and informed them that a complaint had been taken down in the Godakawela Police Station. She gave the 2 complaint numbers which she had managed to get from them as G CIB 288/61 and MCEN 22/08. When she asked for the complaint number from the Biyagama police station she was informed that the investigation would be conducted under the same complaint made to the Godakawela police and therefore it would be registered under the same number.

Subsequently, a police officer accompanied the victim and her mother in a vehicle so that she could identify the Guest House to which she was taken. After visiting five guest Houses, Ms. Y recognized the fifth Guest House, the Kalani Nadi Guest House, as the place where she had been held and raped. The police had thereafter searched the premises. They also looked into the Guest Information Book and found that the name and identity card number of the Deputy Chairman Pradeshiya Sabaha Weligepola entered as a guest who had stayed the night on 17 December 2007. The police then searched the room recorded as the one occupied the Deputy Chairman and took into custody the bed lined (which had since been washed) and the Hotel Guest Information Book.

The police also questioned the waiter who had been in service on the 17 December. The waiter recognized the victim. Then the police took the waiter to the police station in order to get his statement, after which he was released. The Biyagama police then having taken the contact phone numbers of the victim’s household told them that they would contact them when the need arises. The victim and her mother left for home.

Since the Biyagama police had not contacted the victim, the victim’s mother phoned them and was told that the investigation was in progress. She was also asked if she could provide a vehicle so the police could arrest the Deputy Chairman, to which she replied that she did not have the money.

On January 28 when the victim’s father was in the garden he noticed three strangers on the road opposite the house carrying that which appeared like iron bars. The victim’s father had quietly evaded them. In this regard, the victim’s father made a complaint at the Godakawela Police Station (Complaint number 322/221 cii). Since this incident, the victim’s family members moved from the village for their protection and safety.

According to the victim, after she was abducted and raped the perpetrators still live as free men, the police have not notified them of any further action taken on the crime, and it was only through a friend of the victim’s mother that they had got to know that a case had been filed in the Magistrate’s Court Gampaha. According to this information the victim’s mother had gone on February 13 to the court but when the case was called, she was not allowed to come forward and was chased away by the Biyagama police and the lawyer of the accused. The victim’s mother quotes the case number as No. 352B/2008 but she is not sure about this case number.

The victim and her mother have made written complaints of the incident to the Inspector General of Police, District Inspector General (Legal),Senior Superintendent of Police Colombo and Ratnapura, National Police Commission, Human Rights Commission, Child Rights Authority and Women and Children’s Bureau.

Furthermore, the victim’s family got to know that the suspect applied for anticipatory bail on 19 March 2008. After learning of this, the victim set out all details of the incident in an affidavit and handed it over to the Magistrate Gampaha.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Ms. Y is the eldest in her family. She had successfully completed her Ordinary Level examination in December 2006. She had begun her studied for the Advanced Level examination and continued for two months but due to the poverty of her family had to abandon her studies. She stayed at home and looked into the studies of her younger sibling while also helping her family with the day to day chores. Her mother worked as a machine operator in a garment factory in Dematagoda and lived in a boarding house near the factory. Her father is a labourer.

Due to the increasing cost of living and hardships faced by her family, she had asked the husband of her mother’s sister to help her find a job so that she can contribute towards the expenses of the family. The husband spoke about this to the Deputy Chairman Pradeshiya Sabaha Weligepola, requesting him to find her employment.

Subsequently the Deputy Chairman, the husband and a friend took Ms. Y by a three-wheeler owned to meet the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council member Bahu Munipriya. This was to obtain a letter to a person called Ranjith Jayawardana of the “Ceramic World” Biyagama requesting employment.

On 26 Novemebr 2007, Ms. Y accompanied by her mother’s sister went to “Ceramic World” Biyagama. She was asked to sit for an entrants test and told to report to work from the next day 27 November 2007, whereupon she started her new job.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the local authorities listed below and demand urgent intervention in this matter and urge them to carry out investigations on the evidence collected and arrest the suspect without delay. Please also urge them to ensure the safety of the victim and her family.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the violence against women calling for an intervention in this case.

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