SRI LANKA: Manikhinna Police refuse to investigate abduction and rape of a fifteen-year-old girl

Dear friends, 

Mr. Basil Champika and Sunethra Kumari of No: 100, Kandy Road, Manikhinna in Kandy district are the parents of a 15- year-old girl, Malathi. Malathi was abducted on 2 June 2011, by her school van driver and the parents made a complaint to the Manikhinna Police Station in Kandy. Basil and Sunethra were finally able to locate the child at a remote location in Badulla and the police arrested the culprit together with the victim who was admitted to the Badulla General Hospital. Malathi was examined by a Judicial Medical Officer who recorded that the child had been abused which constituted statutory rape under the laws of the country. The parents later learned that the same suspect had abducted a school girl before and restrained her in a hidden location. This victim was forced to undergone an abortion after becoming pregnant. Though the complaint was recorded at Panwila Police Station the police did not take action. Due to the apathy of the police to hold an impartial inquiry the parents fear that they and their daughter will not receive justice for their case. This is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

According to the information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Mr. Basil Champika & Sunethra Kumari of No: 100, Kandy Road, Manikhinna in Kandy district are the parents of a fifteen-year-girl child. Malathi (not her real name) was a student at a highly prestigious school in Kandy and was preparing to sit for the GCE O/L exam in December 2011. Malathi is a very intelligent student and respected by her teachers. 

Malathi travelled by a school van from Manikhinna to Katugastota with some other school children. The driver was a young married man but known for eyeing the girls that travelled with him. 

Malathi’s world was small and she was protected by her parents, she knew only their home and the school. On the 2 June 2011, the van driver, Mr. Shashik, left all the other children at home and drove Malathi to Badulla, to a house owned by an soldier. 

When Malathi did not return home, her worried parents made a complaint to the Manikhinna Police Station but instead of taking immediate action the police officers told the parents to search for her themselves. Having launched an intense search, they came to know on 11 June through a friend of Shashik that he was keeping Malathi in the house in Badulla. 

Having made a complaint at the Badulla Headquarters Police Station on the same day, Basil and Sunethra went to the house in Badulla where Malathi was being held, accompanied by officers attached to the Badulla Station. Shashik was arrested, produced before the Magistrate of Badulla and transferred to Kandy Remand Prison. 

Malathi was also taken into police custody and immediately admitted to the Badulla General Hospital where she was admitted for five days before being transferred to the Bahirawakanda Children’s Home under the care of the officers of the Probation Department. She was handed over to her parents on 4 July by the Magistrate of Kandy. 

Meanwhile the suspect who was arrested by the Badulla Police on 11 June was produced in Magistrate’s Court of Kandy on 13 June 2011 where the Magistrate granted him bail while Malathi was still being treated in hospital. 

These proceedings were observed by Malathi’s father, Basil, who was present in court room. When Basil rose and respectfully told the Magistrate that his child was still under treatment in the hospital the Magistrate remanded him for contempt of court. 

Basil and Sunethra learned from the present Officer in Charge (OIC) of Panwila Police Station that the suspect, Shashik, was legally married but separated from his wife. Two years earlier he abducted another school girl and took her Madulkelle, Maha Patana village where he raped the child. She became pregnant and later was forced by her abductor to undergo an abortion. This incident was reported to the Panwila Police Station but Shashik was never produced in court. Therefore it is quite evident that the officers attached to the Panwila Police Station failed in their duty to prosecute the suspect for rape, thereby leaving him free to commit a similar offense at will. The present OIC of the Panwila Police and the father of this victim have testified about this incident. 

Basil & Sunethra feel that the Manikhinna Police did not properly investigate their complained. Further they did not report the relevant facts regarding the suspect and his previous behavior of committing a similar offense against at least one other school girl. Malathi’s parents believe that the police failed in their duty by not objecting to the bail. This, the parents believe was due to bribes given by the suspect. What was blatantly irresponsible about the behaviour of the Manikhinna police officers was the fact that they did not make the Magistrate aware of the previous incident and the danger he might cause to the general public by enlarging him. 

According to the medical report issued by the JMO, the victim was sexually abused which constitutes statutory rape as the victim child is under the age of 16 while she was kept in the house at Badulla. 

Hence the parents of the victim question the actions of the police and the judiciary in their failure to provide justice in both cases. Therefore they call for an independent inquiry into their case, redress for the victim and justice. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has reported innumerable cases of the victims of crimes whose cases have been never accepted or not investigated. In many of these cases victims have face enormous harassment; on several some occasions the witnesses and the victims have been killed by the perpetrators. The AHRC has continuously urged the state of Sri Lanka on the necessity of adopting a witness protection law and implementing a successful witness protection mechanism to verify the smooth running of the rule of law system. The state of Sri Lanka is bound to implement the legal provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as it has signed and ratified the convention. Nevertheless the lack of protection offered to those who are willing to take cases against criminals, abusive police officers and state authorities, means that the law is under-utilised continues to be employed as a tool by the police to harass people. This not only takes a long-term toll on the victims and their families, but on society as a whole, by undermining of civilian respect for the law and encouraging impunity. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the case abduction. The criminals as well as the police officers who are having lethargic approach to investigate the crimes must also try before the court of law for breaching the laws of the country and also should be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department. 

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women on this regard. 

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