The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges that the Public must come froward and fight the rapists who are using political buffers to evade the law and order. They say that before anything else, it is time for the people to demand parliament to take appropriate action to maintain discipline within the police stations so that the police will be able to become the law enforcement agency that it is meant to be. Until such a fundamental reform happens the possibility for protection to women will be confined only to loud words which only manifest the lack of will within the nation to protect its women and children.
l by Darshani Wimalasuriya
(05 July, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) According to statistics rapes and child abuses are alarmingly rising in Sri Lanka. Based on the current statistics, about 5 rapes and molestations of women take place every day. Recently the Deputy Child Development and Women Affairs Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah has informed the parliament that at least 6,343 cases of rape and 15,158 child abuses cases have been reported in the past five years. Many of the victims of rape continuously denied justice and they often live in fear and shame.
The criminal justice system in Sri Lanka is extremely weak and the Police do not conduct proper investigations against the perpetrators. Hence there are ample opportunities for the rapists to walk free. This is a major violation of human rights. Several years ago a senior administrative officer named JDC Jayasinghe alias Javigodage Don Charles Jayasinghe also known as Muddaragama Kukul Charlie raped a 17 year old girl from Minuwangoda area. The victim Maldeniyage Priyadharshani was continually denied justice and later she committed suicide. Today the rapist JDC Jayasinghe working in the Ministry of Mass Media & Information without any charges.
In Sri Lanka more than 25 percent of cases heard in courts are child abuse cases, revealed a study conducted by the Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Ministry. A notable feature is that the majority of children were victimized by their blood relatives. According to the study 51 percent of court cases in Embilipitiya are on child abuse, 32.7 percent in the Badulla district, 24 percent in Kegalle, 45.27 percent in Polonnaruwa, 40.17 percent in Ratnapura, 38.60 percent in Kandy, and 33.16 percent in Anuradhapura.
The most important reason for the lack of successful prosecutions of those allegedly responsible for rape in custody is that those responsible for the investigation (i.e. the police) are supporting the politically backed perpetrators. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has reported innumerable cases where state law enforcement agencies have shown the breakdown of law in investigating crimes and bringing the suspected persons before the law so that they may be punished after successful criminal proceedings. The victims of crimes face enormous harassment, and on some occasions the witness and the victims have been killed by the perpetrators.
The majorities of incidents of alleged rapes are being committed by the politicians and people connected to the ruling party. Last year The ruling party Chairman of Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana Khuram brutally murdered Shaikh Zaman, 32, a British tourist from Manchester at a tourist hotel in Rekawa, Tangalle and raped his girl friend 23-year-old Russian national Victoria Alexandrovna. This case is pending and there is un deniable possibility that Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathiranathe rapist and the killer would go free following breakable and weak evidences gathered by the Police.
Several weeks ago Akurassa Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman S.L Sunil was arrested by the Police for alleged sexual abuse of a 14 year old girl. The rapist had abducted the victim and kept in one of his hotels and then committed a gang rape. According to the recent reports the rapist S.L Sunil is being transferred to the prison hospital and he is having a comfortable time in the remand prison.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges that the Public must come froward and fight the rapists who are using political buffers to evade the law and order. They say that before anything else, it is time for the people to demand parliament to take appropriate action to maintain discipline within the police stations so that the police will be able to become the law enforcement agency that it is meant to be. Until such a fundamental reform happens the possibility for protection to women will be confined only to loud words which only manifest the lack of will within the nation to protect its women and children.
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