ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION -
URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME!
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-111-2008
23 May 2008
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SRI LANKA: Police refused to take action on rape of girls.
ISSUES: Police negligence; violence against women; rape; abduction
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Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a mother, whose
two teenage daughters had been raped, one remains missing after having been
forcibly abducted, was refused by the police to have her complaints recorded
at the police station. The policemen on duty also did not take action in
pursuing the perpetrators as they escape taking one victim with them.
CASE DETAILS:
Seetha and her husband were living together with their two teenage daughters,
aged 18 and 16, in a small mud house in Kalmunai, Ampara District. Her husband
usually works in Colombo and returns home in the evening.
But at dawn on 10 May 2008, while Seetha and her two daughters were asleep,
three men had come to their place forcing themselves into their house. The
men, who are carrying knives and pistols, claimed they were from the security
forces that had come to conduct a search in their place. The supposed search
was made on pretext that an explosion had taken place in Ampara few hours
earlier.
Shortly after the men arrived, they immediately held Seetha pinning her down
to the floor restraining her movement while covering her mouth. Seetha could
smell alcohol in the breaths of the three men.
At the time, Seetha's two daughters were inside their bedroom that she had
locked before he opened the door. He locked the girl's bedroom anticipating
that they would harm them as it usually happens amongst girls in their
village. Her husband too, had tried avoiding working during nighttime in order
to stay with his family.
While two of them searched her house for some valuables, one of them tried to
enter into the bedroom where Seetha's daughters stayed. The girls were also
awoken by the sounds of noise from the outside and hid underneath their bed.
When the men asked Seetha what was inside the bedroom and why it was locked,
Seetha, in her desperate plea to push the men away, played dumb telling them
she was alone in their house. She also told them that she locked it because
her nephew, who was staying the room, is in Colombo at the time. They however,
did not believe her and continued on breaking into the door where they saw her
two daughters inside.
They dragged the girls out and threw them on the bed. The two men stripped
Seetha's daughters naked and raped them. Seetha tried screaming but another
man held her and tied her mouth with a rope to prevent her from screaming. She
was helpless in seeing her two daughters being raped by them. The pain she had
to suffer in hearing her two daughters scream while being rape was unbearable
for her.
Few minutes later, the men had stopped raping her daughter leaving them on the
floor splattered with blood. They, too, before leaving threatened her and her
two daughters to keep quit; otherwise they would be killed should they tell
anyone about what had happened to them. Seetha's older daughter, who could
barely walk, came to unty her before collapsing while her younger daughter
remained unconscious.
Seetha immediately took them to the Kalmunai Hospital with the help of her
relative who was living nearby. Later that evening, she took her two daughters
back home after the hospital personnel, who apparently do not want to get
involved, refused to treat her daughters when they started having high fever.
"The doctors were afraid to get involved and after treating them, they wanted
me to take them home immediately", she said in an interview with a local
newspaper. Her relative stayed with her and assisted her as she too had to
recover from her shock. She further said in an interview that: "I felt I was
the guilty one as I had to watch helplessly as my daughters were being raped.
Such a disaster should never fall on any mother. There were times when I felt
like I was about to collapse but if I had not been strong, my daughters would
have died".
When Seetha's husband returned home, his in laws told him about what had
happened to their children. While told of his daughter's rape, he collapsed on
the floor. When he regained consciousness, Seetha's told him that they should
report to the police; however, he told her not to do so because of fear that
the perpetrators would return and harm his family again. She told him that
though their family had already been destroyed nevertheless they were not
killed by them.
However, later that night, another five men, armed with sharp weapons and
carrying pistols, once against break into their house. Upon gaining entry,
they assaulted Seetha's husband severely and his relative who was around.
Then, they went to their daughters' bedroom and soon after were seen dragging
their elder daughter, who was still suffering from a high temperature, with
them.
They took and forced her to a white van, which was parked outside, and escaped
taking their daughter with them. It was the last time they had seen her
daughter. Her whereabouts remains unknown since then. Minutes later, Seetha,
with her husband and relative suffering from profuse bleeding, rushed to the
police station to report the incident.
However, Seetha alleged that when they arrived at the police station, the
policemen on duty had refused to record the complaint telling her they were
busy with election related incidents. They, too, told her to come back the
next day and to produce with her several documents as proof that she was
indeed a local resident of Kalmunai before they would entertain her complaint.
Seetha, however, left the police station without returning back. Later she
filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission. The trauma that
Seetha had suffered is so deep. She remains hopeful, by waiting outside their
house, that her daughter would return home safe. Her younger daughter, too, is
still recovering from the incident.
On May 22, the office of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) was
reported to have commenced an investigation into this case. Also, the Police
Women's and Children's Bureau in Ampara has also begun its investigations.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below urging them to ensure
this case is immediately investigated. They must exhaust all means to locate
the disappeared victims and to identify those responsible in raping them
whether or not they are members of security forces. They too, must look into
who are those policemen who had refused to take action into this case.
Please be informed that the AHRC has also written separate letter to the UN
Special Rapporteur on violence against women calling for urgent intervention
in this case.
To support this appeal, please click here:
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear ___________,
SRI LANKA: Please investigate the case of rape of two girls and abduction of
elder daughter
Name of victims raped: An 18 year old woman and her 16-year-old sister
Names of victims who were assaulted: Seetha, her husband and their relatives,
all of them are living in Kalmunai, Ampara District
Name of alleged perpetrators: unidentified three men who allegedly raped two
daughters on May 10; unidentified five men who abducted the first daughter on
May 11
Date of incident: May 10 and 11, 2008
Place of incident: Kalmunai, Ampara District
I am writing to draw your attention into the case of two girls, aged 18 and
16, who were raped by three unidentified men who had broken into their house
in Kalmunai, Ampara District on May 10. The perpetrators, who claimed to be
security forces, forcibly entered into their victims' house on pretext of
conducting searches.
The victims' mother, Seetha, recounted that the perpetrators had come to their
place at early dawn and forced themselves in on pretext that they were
conducting search operations. When the perpetrators arrived, only she and her
two daughters were inside the house. The said men were armed with knives and
pistols and they could smell alcohol from their breath. Sensing that her
children could be in danger, Seetha had actually locked her daughters' room
before letting the men in. The frightened girls also hid themselves under
their bed.
However, the perpetrators had physically restrained Seetha as they forced
themselves into the girls' bedroom. Upon seeing the girls under the bed, they
forcibly pulled and dragged them out shoving unto their bed. They stripped the
girls naked and raped them in the presence of their mother, Seetha, who was
being held by another man. The perpetrators stopped raping the girl later
leaving them on the floor with blood splattered on the floor. The older
victim, who could hardly walk from her injuries, came to Seetha to unty the
rope wrapped around her mouth before collapsing, while the younger victim
remained unconscious.
Seetha, with the help of relatives living close by, took her two daughters to
the hospital for medical attention. When they returned home, later that
evening, while her two daughters were lying in their beds recovering, another
group of five men had come to their residence. They, too, were armed with
sharp weapons and pistols.
At that time, the victims' father, who had just gained consciousness after he
had collapsed after hearing the rape of his daughter shortly after arriving
home from Colombo, had been severely assaulted by the said perpetrators. His
other relative too, who was around at the time was beaten. They bled profusely
from the assault.
The perpetrators, too, forcibly dragged and took the older victim into their
white van parked nearby on their way to escape. The older victim though
remained missing and could no long be seen since the incident. However, when
Seetha went to the police station to register a complaint, a police officer on
duty there had refused neither to register her complaint nor pursue the
perpetrators. They also did not take action into pursuing the escaping
perpetrators.
I am extremely disappointed by the police' inaction in this case. I therefore
urge you to ensure that this case is effectively and adequately investigated.
The police officer who had refused to record the victim's complaint and fails
to take action in pursuing the perpetrators, must be investigated. They must
be held to account for their inaction and negligence. Investigation into this
case must also ensure that the identities of the perpetrators are identified.
Additionally, I urged you to afford adequate assistance to the victims,
particularly for the rehabilitation of the rape victim and her mother. The
authorities must also exhaust all means in locating the other missing rape
victim. Appropriate protection and compensation must also be afforded to these
victims.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Victor Perera
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk
2. Mr. Neville Piyadigama
Chairperson
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk or npcgen@sltnet.lk
3. Secretary
Human Rights Commission
No. 36, Kynsey Road
Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk
4. Mr. C.R. De Silva
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436 421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
Posted on 2008-05-23
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