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Woman beaten at bus stand claims Rs. 50m. compensation
View(s):The 35-year-old woman who was brutally assaulted by a policeman near the Ratnapura bus stand, the video of which went viral on social media last week, says she was attacked as she turned down a request from the policeman for a sexual favour.
In a fundamental rights case filed before the Supreme Court on Friday, the woman Weerasinghe Arachchilage Kanthilatha of 3rd Mile Post, Kanadole, Ratnapura says she is a sex worker operating in the Ratnapura Town and has cited the Officer in Charge (OIC) Ratnapura Police 
Station, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ratnapura Division, the Police Spokesperson and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) as respondents.
In the petition, Kanthilatha detailed her chequered life which began when she was born at the Ratnapura General Hospital in 1970 by which time her father had left her mother. Hence she has never seen her father.
She studied up to Grade 8 in Getangama MMV. From 1994 she had lived with one W.P. Thushara whom she later married, and had two children by him. They now live separately.
She has never done a proper job but whenever she needed money she provided sexual services to men in the Ratnapura area.
Her trouble with the Police began when she was approached by a policeman who was stationed in the Ratnapura bus station area. He approached her with a request for sexual services free. When she refused, he demanded half a bottle of arrack. When she refused this too, the policemen had stated, ‘you will see what I can do’.
A few days later, on September 6, 2014 when she was roaming around the bus station she had a heated argument with another sex worker who has good relations with several Police officers.
Afterwards she had gone into a nearby boutique for a cup of tea, when suddenly the policeman had come up behind her and asked her why she had come into an area where she was told she was not welcome.
The petitioner states that then the policeman, whose name she does not knowbut who is known to be attached to the Ratnapura Police, had started to assault her with something like an iron cable. As she tried to move away, the policeman had kicked her and assaulted her. She had slipped and had fallen near the co-operative store in front of the bus stand. He had caught her by her hair and struck her head on the ground and kicked her in the back. The petitioner states that she underwent severe pain and couldn’t stand up at once soon after the assault. He had also used abusive language on her.
The petitioner states it was evening and many people had seen the incident. Later she learnt that someone had videotaped it and uploaded it onto the internet. A copy of the video was also submitted to court with the documents.
The petitioner states that, despite the pain, she went to the police station and made a verbal complaint to the Head Quarters Inspector (HQI) and the HQI asked her to lodge a complaint and went away. Later she told the story to another officer at the police station. He recorded her complaint but didn’t give any receipt for it.
The petitioner states that later when she went to the police station again to inquire about the matter the HQI pretended that he was unaware of such an incident. Later she was approached by a policeman named Nishantha Bandara of the Ratnapura Police and offered Rs. 3,000 to settle the dispute.
The petitioner states her fundamental right to equal protection under the law as well as protection against discrimination, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and unlawful arrest which are guaranteed by the Constitution of Sri Lanka have been violated.
She wants action taken by the Police Department against those involved in this case. If they are found guilty through an internal Police Department inquiry for the offence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, against which women and children in public places are guaranteed, she be awarded Rs. 50 million as compensation.
| Police assault victim’s mother remanded for allegedly violating Vagrants Ordinance Perama Baduge Vilinona (65), mother of the woman who was brutally assaulted by a policeman, was arrested by the Ratnapura Police for alleged violation of the Vagrants Ordinance, and later remanded, after being produced before Court. |