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SRI LANKA: Police refused to take action on rape of girls

May 23, 2008

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)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-111-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.