AHRC<\/span><\/a>), the 14-year-old girl was abducted and raped by her school bus\u00a0driver on 19th June 2016, and she was threatened to keep quiet or\u00a0her parents and other family members would be killed. However, despite the\u00a0threat, her family members filed a complaint with the Haputale Police Station,\u00a0yet the case has not been investigated.<\/p>\n\u201cThe alleged suspect, who belongs to a wealthy family, was simply released, without him being produced\u00a0before a Magistrate. The victim\u2019s family says that as they belong to\u00a0an ethnic and religious minority in the region, the police have not\u00a0given them attention in their quest for justice. The case illustrates\u00a0the collapse of the rule of law in the country,\u201d AHRC said.<\/p>\n
The victim and her family from a Estate in Haputale who are Tamils and\u00a0ardent followers of the Roman Catholic region live within a\u00a0small community in a tea estate that is surrounded, predominantly, by\u00a0the majority Sinhalese people.<\/p>\n
On the 19 June 2016, the victim was returning from the Roman Catholic\u00a0Church at around 11 a.m. She traveled by bus about seven kilometers,\u00a0and was walking home the last half kilometer, after getting down from\u00a0the bus. \u201cAs the victim was walking home, a three-wheeler stopped and offered her a\u00a0ride. The Victim knew the two men who were seated behind and therefore she\u00a0got into the three-wheeler. The two men who were seated behind were\u00a0the bus driver and the conductor of a private bus in which she used to\u00a0travel sometimes to school. Students call the bus driver Mr. Gamini (29),\u201d AHRC said.<\/p>\n
To her surprise, the victim was not taken to her home but instead to the bus driver\u2019s\u00a0house. She had objected and questioned them and pleaded to them to take\u00a0her home. \u201cBut the three-wheeler driver and the bus conductor left\u00a0the victim with the bus driver. The driver forcefully took her into the\u00a0house, where she had learnt that there was no one in the house. She was\u00a0frightened and yelled for help. She went into shock and panic,\u201d AHRC said.<\/p>\n
She had shouted and made several attempts to run away from the house,\u00a0but failed. The alleged suspect Gamini then raped her. After this,\u00a0she was threatened not to reveal what happened to anyone. If she\u00a0revealed the incident, she was threatened that her parents would be\u00a0killed. Then the suspect dropped the victim near her house at around 3 p.m.\u00a0With difficulty she walked to her home. She was in fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the fear that the suspect would harm her family, she kept the\u00a0matter secret for few days but finally revealed it to her mother on\u00a0the 7 July 2016. Immediately, the mother informed family members.\u00a0Violet and her daughter then went to the Haputale Police Station and\u00a0made a complaint,\u201d AHRC said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the same day, 7 July 2016, in the evening, several hours after the\u00a0complaint was made, two police officers visited the house of Violet\u00a0and brought the victim, her father, & mother, to the Haputale Police\u00a0Station. Within several minutes, police officers brought the alleged\u00a0suspect, and one of the two men also to the Police Station. The Victim\u00a0identified the rapist and the other men who aided and abetted in the\u00a0crime. In front of them, the suspects were put inside the police cell.\u00a0Then the victim\u2019s mother and her family came back home. But several hours later\u00a0they learned that the police had sent the suspects home,\u201d AHRC claimed.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, on 8th July, the victim, her parents, and her brother went to the Police\u00a0Station. The police recorded the victim\u2019s statement. It was recorded in\u00a0Sinhala even though she is not fluent in Sinhala. Statements of her\u00a0parents were also recorded, and the police officers visited the crime\u00a0scene, and she was admitted to the Diyatalawa Government Hospital on\u00a0the same day at around 2 p.m. There the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO)\u00a0examined her. The JMO confirmed to the victim\u2019s parents that she had been\u00a0raped. On July 10, she was discharged. When she was discharged, the\u00a0doctors confirmed that she was not pregnant.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s mother had later questioned the police officers how the alleged suspect Gamini had been released within several hours after he had been brought to the police. The police told the parents that the suspect was produced before an Acting Magistrate and released on bail. Then the mother inquired for the name of the Acting Magistrate and went to meet him, the Acting Magistrate had said that such a suspect was not produced before him. \u201cTherefore, there is now serious suspicion that the suspect has not been produced before a Magistrate,\u201d AHRC said.<\/p>\n
*Editor’s note – “Gamini” is a given name by Colombo Telegraph\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":164912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n
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