Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the information that Galle police have refused to register a mother’s complaint about suspicions that her 24-year-old daughter was murdered. The authorities also failed to adequately look into the woman’s concerns that the girl was being put to work by her foster family, years before. The mother is from a very poor background and is being denied her access to the country’s complaint mechanism.
CASE DETAILS:
According to local sources, R.G. Malini found out about the death of her daughter from a neighbour on 19 September, 2009 (see the funeral announcement here). Malini had given up her daughter Vajira Kumari to another family in 1992, when she was seven. She was able to visit the girl occasionally and reports being concerned about her treatment in the home. Vajira had allegedly told her in 1997 that she was not sent to school, was used as a domestic servant and was often assaulted by her host family. After numerous complaints to various police stations by Malini, the matter was reportedly loosely investigated, but not to the mother’s satisfaction; the girl was returned to her hosts, Mr Ahoka Jayasekera and his wife, of Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle.
Malini reports that in July this year her daughter, now 24, had come to her reporting further ill treatment, and a wish to leave the care of the Jayasekeras. Since learning about Vajira’s death she has tried to register her suspicions in a complaint to Galle police station, with the support of her employer Stanley Perera, but her attempts have been obstructed. Instead two officers accompanied them to the funeral house where Malini was told that Vajira had died of an unspecified sickness, and was told by officers not to make a commotion. There is no cause of death on the certificate.
Ms. Malini should have the right to be informed of the conditions surrounding her daughter’s death. She also has the right to register a complaint and request a criminal investigation, at which point all efforts must be made to protect and preserve the medical evidence. Investigations must also be conducted into the custody agreement and legal status under which Vajira lived, and her treatment by the Jayasekeras. Sri Lanka ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in July 1991 and is obliged to take claims of child abuse, child labour and the denial of a child extremely seriously.
SUGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities below supporting Ms. Malini’s right to file a complaint, and requesting a criminal investigation into the death and former living circumstances of Vajira Kumari.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has written to the Committee on the Rights of the Child requesting its intervention into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear _________,
SRI LANKA: Police block a poor mother’s request for a criminal investigation into the death of her daughter
Name of victim: Vajira Kumari, 24, deceased
Perpetrating officials: Officers attached to Galle Police Station, Galle Divison, Southern Range.
Place of incident: Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle
Date of incident: 19 September 2009
I’m writing to express my concern over the rejection, by Galle police, of a mother’s complaint about suspicions that her 24-year-old daughter was murdered. According to local sources, R.G. Malini found out about the death of her daughter from a neighbour on 19 September, 2009.
Ms. Malini had given up her daughter, Vajira Kumari, to another family in 1992, when she was seven but alleges that the young girl reported ill treatment. Vajira had allegedly told her in 1997 that she was not sent to school, was used as a domestic servant and was often assaulted by her host family. I am told that after numerous complaints to various police stations by Malini, the matter was reportedly loosely investigated, yet the girl was returned to her hosts, Mr Ahoka Jayasekera, of Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle.
Ms. Malini reports that in July this year her daughter had come to her reporting further ill treatment and a wish to leave the care of the Jayasekeras. Since learning about Vajira’s death, she has tried to register her suspicions in a complaint to Galle police station, with the support of her employer Stanley Perera, but her attempts have been obstructed. Instead two officers accompanied them to the funeral house where Malini was told that Vajira, at 24, had died of an unspecified sickness, and was told by officers not to make a commotion. There is no cause of death on the certificate.
Ms. Malini is from an underprivileged background, and has been frustrated by her lack of acces to information about her daughter’s death, and to the complaint mechanism. Please ensure that she is able to register her complaint, and see that a criminal investigation takes place, at which point all efforts must be made to protect and preserve the medical evidence. Investigations must also be conducted into the custody agreement and legal status under which Vajira lived, and her treatment by the Jayasekeras. As you are aware, as a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child Sri Lanka is obliged to take claims of child abuse, child labour and the denial of a child extremely seriously.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
Mr. Mahinda Balasuriya
Inspector General of Police (IGP),
New Secretariat,
Colombo 1,
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440
E-mail: igp@police.lk
Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Secretary, National Police Commission,
3rd Floor Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03,
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 395960
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk
Secretary, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka,
No 108 Barnes Place
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk
Senior Superintendent of Police
Office of the Senior Superintendant of Police
Galle Division
Fax: +94 91 2232061
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
