Historical Judgment, Trial concluded within 4 Days

| by our Special Correspondent (KK)

( June 03, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Trial was against a married man with children of 43 years of age, raping a 13 year’s old girl at the time of the crime, on the Deepavali day in 2007, 8th of November in Matale, Central Sri Lanka. Kandy High Court Judge sentenced the accused Sandanam Jeevaratnam who raped a girl,Divya at her house when she was all alone, to 20 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 5000/= on 18th of May 2012. Apart from that The Judge ordered Rs.100,000/= as compensation to the victim. The judge noted that, the accused forced the victim to consume alcohol before raping her. This piece of evidence was considered as aggravating circumstances which deserved the maximum sentence.

According to the details revealed at the court, time was about 3pm and Divya Sivaraj Mohanambal was all alone at home. Others in the house her father, grandmother two sisters and brother were not there at home. Her mother had gone Middle East for employment. Her neighbor Sandanam had come to her house after consuming alcohol. As soon as he entered the house locked the door and windows. He had threatened her to keep quiet with a knife and forced the minor to drink alcohol he had brought. He had not permitted her to shout, kept a cloth in her mouth and dragged her to a mat. Thereafter he forced her to lie down on the floor and raped her. When she regained consciousness after an hour, she found that her clothes had been removed and were torn. She felt serious pain in her stomach. When her grandmother returned she has discovered the smell of alcohol from the victim and started questioning her it was only after her uncle slapped her that she revealed what happened to her during their absence.

After recording the complaint at the police, the police officers brought Jeevaratnam to the police station and interrogated them together. The suspect totally denied the allegation made against him by the victim. The victim was once again victimized by the actions of the police during the interrogation who were insensitive to the victim's mental and physical chaos.

On the same day Divya was admitted to the Matale hospital and she was produced to the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) on the 14th November 2007.Victim was discharged on 15th from the hospital giving the much needed JMO report.

Divya was then brought to Kandy by the Human Rights office staff for counseling, protection and for her security. She was housed in Ampitiya and studied at the Ampitiya R.C School and at Peradeniya Tamil School. Divya sat for the GCE O/L exam in 2011 December and until now she is being protected by the Human Rights office.

Divya was indeed lucky, her rape case came up in Kandy high court very early and the indictment was served on the 05th September 2011 and the trial started on the 19th April 2012 and continued until 26th April 2012. The case was taken up for trial on 04 days day-to-day basis. Divya, her grandmother, the WPC, a police sergeant and the Judicial Medical Office (J.M.O), General Hospital, Matale, Dr. D.L Waidyaratne gave evidence before the High Court Judge Manilal Vaidyathiaka. The accused gave evidence under cross-examination. Although the accused denied the allegation he did not offer any explanation why such a serious allegation was leveled against him.

Rev.Fr. Nandana Manatunga, who heads the human rights office in Ampitiya who had given Divya the necessary protection, legal aid and facility for her education, said, ‘I am happy that the justice has been done to the poor girl, sentencing the accused for 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. We consider this as a Land Mark Judgment and encouragement to all those who seek Justice to”Break the Silence”. It is a victory for the Tamil Tea plantation community’.

‘The trials of the rape case of Divya concluded on very special circumstances as the High court judge was determined to go for a speedy trial compared to many other cases of similar nature. Jesudasan Rita, a rape victim is on trial after 11 years of the incident. She was raped on the 12th August 2001 and the trial is still proceeding at Nuwara-Eliya high court’.

‘We also thank our Lawyers , the members of the "Support group", the Rev , Sisters, the teachers of the Ampitiya Tamil school and all those who provided security , protection, Legal .medical and Psychological assistance to Divya since 2007.we also Thank all those who joined her in Prayer and were in Solidarity, finally we Salute Divya for her courage and consistency’.

Though this happened in an Estate community village of Delkanda Estate, Rattota, Matale, it is not an unusual thing in other parts of the country. Recently Deputy Minister of Child Care & Women’s affairs, Mr.Hisbulla revealed in Parliament, ‘a steep rise had been recorded in 2011, over 2010 year,1450/1324 in the rape cases and out of this 1450 ,1169 are female child rape cases’. This is an alarming figure as these are the reported ones but there may be more unreported cases. Many victims do not reveal those due to socio-cultural bindings as sometimes it may be the family members or close relations are involved as the perpetrators.

(*By courtesy of Human Rights Office, Ampitiya, Kandy)