News
After rape and murder, fear and tension in Jaffna over covert menace to public safety
Relief as a young woman in Kayts gone missing was found yesterday did not dispel fears over public safety being menaced by sinister forces as a Jaffna court banned public protests – now spreading to the east – in the wake of the gang-rape and murder of schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vidya.
Sweeping changes were made late this week to the police hierarchy in Jaffna in the wake of the protests and the Criminal Investigation Department took over the investigation.
Heavy security: Scene in Jaffna town yesterday
Senior DIG Lalith Jayasinghe said the suspects arrested over the murder would undergo DNA tests. Police security has been beefed up in Jaffna and the Inspector-General of Police, N.K. Illangakoon visited the area.
There was alarm over the disappearance on Friday of a 20-year-old woman in the hamlet of Velanai on the island of Kayts, neighbouring Pungudutivu where Sivaloganathan Vidya was attacked and killed allegedly by a gang of men from her village on May 13 as she went to school.
Late yesterday, the 20-year-old was found safe; she had been with her boyfriend. Frustration and anger over the brutal murder and suspiciously lackadaisical police handling of the Sivaloganathan Vidya case brought crowds out on the streets in many parts of the north, and on Friday protests spread to Batticaloa.
Pungudutivu is notorious for two murder-rapes where the attackers have never been brought to justice. One is generally held to have been committed by sailors stationed there in the 1990s while the other, in 2005, was reportedly said to have been committed by LTTE operatives and blamed on the navy in an attempt to discredit the government. This week, schoolchildren, teachers, university students and lecturers across the peninsula demanded that the perpetrators of the latest gang-rape be punished and justice given to the victim’s family.
Residents, including the girl’s brother (see box story) claim police not only ignored the family’s concerns when a complaint about the disappearance was first made at the Kurikattavan police station but had also passed derogatory remarks about the victim implying that she had eloped with a lover.
Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran on Thursday told the Council that if only the police had been prompt in action the victim’s life could have been saved.
On Wednesday, the case was taken up in parliament by Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs Vijekala Maheswaran, who alleged that police had attempted to smuggle out one of the nine suspects .
She charged that the police had allowed the escape of Swiss national Mahalingam Sivakumaran alias Sashikumar who had been caught by the Pungudutivu villagers. It is learnt that Sashikumar had been admitted to the Jaffna hospital and had gone from there to Colombo, from where he had planned to flee to Switzerland.
Colombo police found him at a guesthouse in Wellawatte and arrested him, and he was later produced before the Jaffna Magistrates Court.
On Wednesday, angry demonstrators gathered before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court demanding that Sashikumar be punished. It is learned that the man is a frequent visitor to Sri Lanka and is highly connected to members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The day he was arrested, Sunday, May 17, he had been with TNA candidate and Dean of the Arts faculty of the Colombo University, Prof. V.T. Thamilmaran, who had allegedly helped him to escape to Colombo. Prof. Thamilmaran has rejected allegations of complicity in the escape (see side story).
Deputy Minister Maheswaran charged that many armed gangs who she said had operated in Pungiditivu with the blessing of the army during the civil war now continued their activities with the support of Tamil political parties.
Following a court order banning protests in Jaffna town a protest being held outside the town on Saturday. Pix by L. Thayalan
She said that she had taken up the case with the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary with no result. “The gangs have to be caught and punished and Pungudutivu made a peaceful place to live in,” she said.
Police earlier this week refuted the claim that they had been sluggish in theirresponse to the complaint but swift action on transfers of top brass by the end of the week showed otherwise.
Police media spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara, ASP, said police were doing their best. Headquarters Inspector at Kayts, Chief Inspector Quintus Perera – now transferred to Mannar – said police had acted with integrity, claiming, “We were prompt in action and had rushed to the scene as soon as we were called”. He was vague about times and said “people can make various allegations but police have done their job to the best of their ability”.
Police had to quell many demonstrations around the peninsula. In a major protest on Wednesday teargas was used to disperse a crowd that had gathered before the Jaffna Magistrate Courts demanding justice. Police arrested 130 people who turned unruly, throwing stones at the court building and damaging vehicles.
It is learned that mobsters allied with the suspects brought to the court had mingled with the peaceful protestors and created chaos to disrupt investigations. On Wednesday, Jaffna was a virtual ghost town with all shops closed and people staying off the streets. Demonstrations were held throughout the week, starting with protests by students of Kilinochchi Central College, Kilinochchi College and students and lecturers of Jaffna University.
In a chain reaction, sporadic protests sprang up in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu with schoolchildren, teachers and women’s groups coming out on the streets demanding security and justice for women. The gang-rape suspects have been remanded until the first week of June. The 130 people arrested during the protest will also be remanded until June 1.
| Jaffna top cops shipped out on IGP’s orders The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has effected a string of high-level transfers in Jaffna following the rape and murder of schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vidya and the mob violence that followed. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Jaffna Division, Lakshman Weerasekara, has been transferred to Seethawakapura and the Seethawakapura SSP, W.K. Jayalath, to Jaffna.Jaffna Division Superintendent of Police SP G.L.A. Wijesekera has been transferred to Kilinochchi and Assistant Superintendent of Police ASP D.S.D. Weerasinghe from Kilinochchi to the Jaffna Division. ASP P.A.K.A. Senaratne was transferred out of Jaffna to Mullaitivu Division, changing places with ASP R.A.D.E.L. Randeniya. In addition, Mannar ASP U.A.P. Fernando has been despatched to Jaffna.The Headquarters Inspector (HQI) of Kayts, Chief Inspector Q.R. Perera, has been transferred to Mannar while HQI Jaffna, CI B.M.R.K.B. Balasooriya, has been sent to Vavuniya. The Officer in Charge of the Wellawatte Police Station, CI F.U.K Wootler, is now HQI Jaffna. | |
| The girl had been targeted, brother says The murdered schoolgirl had been one of three girls targeted by her attackers and became their first victim, her brother, Sivaloganathan Nishanthan, said, describing the family’s frantic search for their loved one. Nishanthan, the family’s caregiver, said he had begun looking for his sister from about 3pm on May 13 as she had not been seen since leaving for school at 7.30am that day.He had gone to the school and, not finding her there, had checked whether she had gone to one of the extra classes she attended but drawn a blank there too. Around 6pm the family had become really alarmed and reported the matter to the Kurkatuwan Police Station. Nishanthan said the police had not only ignored the complaint but made derogatory remarks about his sister. They had alleged that she would have eloped with a lover, he said. Until 8 p.m. the police had remained inactive. Later, he was asked to report the matter to the Kayts Police.The family lodged the complaint at the Kayts Police Station around 11pm. At daylight the next day, around 6am, Nishanthan had gone out again to look for his sister. Traversing the isolated stretch of land she passed through on her way to school he had seen her body on the ground, barely covered with a cloth, her hands bound behind and her legs bound to trees. Her schoolbag and cycle lay forlorn nearby.He said he had immediately called the Kayts police around 7.10 a.m. but they had arrived only at about 10 a.m., and as the hours passed without their arrival he had even rung up 119, the Colombo police number, seeking help. | |
| Prof. V.T. Thamilmaran responds to allegations “I have no connection with Sashikumar, the Swiss national. I heard about the rape incident and went to Pungudutivu to help. That is my home town. “I immediately contacted DIG Lalith Jayasinghe at the Jaffna Police Station, a friend, asking him to take action against the culprits. I even called the Attorney-General’s Office, asking for assistance with the magisterial inquiry. I told him that Pungudutivu is known for such incidents and this should not continue. This is the fourth such rape murder case in that area.“I wanted to establish a police unit in the village and I took two days’ leave and went there. On Monday morning I went with two police officers from the Jaffna Police Station to apprehend Shashikumar. He had gone into hiding following an inquiry by the police. He agreed to come and meet us as the police officer had agreed to give him protection. “He, his wife, child and mother came out of their hiding place from a nearby house. The police jeep was called to take the suspect. But as the Jaffna police said it will be some time before they could send the jeep we decided to go to Jaffna in my jeep. We quickly bundled the family into the jeep and handed over the suspect to the Jaffna police. From there I do not know what happened.“I came back to Punguditivu the same day but the next day was mobbed by the people there, claiming that I let the suspect slip to Colombo. This is the work of political parties who do not want me to contest the elections under the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket. They have discredited me in the eyes of the Pungudutivu people.” | |