The gang rape of a 14 year old school girl... This Sri Lanka!!!!!!!!

The gang rape of a 14 year old school girl... 
This Sri Lanka!!!!!!!!
By Gihan Kamalesh Weerasinghe - Ceylon Today - 21/10/2014

Ceylon Today records a shocking story of how a 14 year old girl was gang raped by 'influential' men who managed to get bail in Court for a non-bailable offence under the Penal Code. Police had not objected to bail for the 'influential' except for the cashier of the hotel who was remanded. According to the police, the cashier had only concealed information that a minor was brought to the hotel. He had not raped the girl.


And the story goes... The Police Children's and Women's Bureau of Kalutara Division had arrested a group of young men who sold a video of a raped 14-year-old girl. An 18 year old son of a politician linked to timber business is also among the arrested suspects.


On October 12, Inspector Malka Thushari, the Officer-in-Charge of Police Children's and Women's Bureau of Kalutara Ddivision was delivering a lecture for adults on preventing child abuse. By this time, a person came in search of her and handed over an envelope to the police reception asking to hand over it to Inspector Malka. The lady police officer opened the envelope in the evening and found a CD and an anonymous petition.


Video clip
The petition was about an incident of rape of a 14-year-old girl of grade 10 of a popular school in Kalutara by several people. The video had gone viral through mobile phones and internet. The petitioner had written that the video clip was available in internet cafes and communication centres in Kalutara. The letter also contained the name of the girl, the person who created the video and the names of the rapists and so forth. The CD was a copy of the video clip which was being sold in Kalutara area.
The video depicted a beautiful naked girl with a foreign look. A young man was having sex with the girl in the video. The girl was grown and did not appear as a school girl. The video showed the girl was engaged in the act voluntarily. A third person had videoed the scene.


Inspector Malka consulted her Senior Deputy Inspector General Sumith Edirisinghe and Senior Superintendent of Police of Kalutara Division, Ranjith Kodituwakku before taking action.
Employed in a foreign country
As mentioned in the petition, the rapists were a group of young men of Dodangoda area. Inspector Malka visited Dodangoda with a police team on October 13. They met the girl whose name was mentioned in the petition and found that the incident was true. She was a very beautiful girl who attended a popular school in Kalutara. She had not gone to school that day.
Her father is a 64-years-old driver of a school bus. Mother is 10 to 15 years younger than her husband. She had been employed in a foreign country since a long time.


The sister of the victim is a law student who resides mostly in the university hostel. Her mother went overseas when this girl was five years old. The girls were looked after by their grandmother who is very old now.
The house was packed with modern furniture and electronic equipment sent by the mother. Police observed the imported curtains had an image of two lovers kissing each other.


Police officers separated the girl and began questioning. She was a brilliant student who was the first in the class. She is to sit for the Ordinary Level examination next year. The school had lot of hopes about her.
She had not understood her experiences as so serious incidents. She thought they were normal. Inspector Malka made friends with her and tactfully prompted the girl to divulge the story.
She revealed that a son of a wealthy businessman of Dodangoda and a friend of his had raped her and videoed the incident. The businessman was closely associated the police and politicians. His son had been educated upto GCE Ordinary Level class at an international school.


Last May, a young man from the neighbourhood had met her and said that he had several photos in which she was with a boyfriend at Kalutara Bodhiya. He threatened to show them to her elders. She had visited Kalutara Bodhiya with her boyfriend several days ago. The boy was also a school student. She pleaded not to show the photos to the elders.
"I will not show them. I have the photos at home. If you come with me, I can give them to you," the young man said. On the way another guy joined them appearing as though he joined them by chance. He is the 17-year-old son of the wealthy businessman.


The other young man was an 18-year-old person whose father was in jail for seducing a minor. His mother worked in a garment factory to run the family. Since the mother was not at home, they took the girl to the house as they had earlier planned.
The house was 500 meters away from the girl's house and the doors and windows of the house remained closed. The young men trick the girl to come inside and shut the door.
The son of the businessman raped her first and the young man of the house followed. The son of the businessman videoed while the girl was with the second man. They actually had no photos to give to the girl. But they shared the new video with their friends appearing as heroes.


Another 23-year-old man showed her the video that had gone viral and threatening to show it to the elders, took her to a guest house in Dodangoda. Although the girl complained to the 40-year-old cashier of the hotel that she had been forcibly brought, the man had taken no action. After the false lover seduced her and left her at the bus halt near the guest house, the man came closer to her and asked for her telephone number pretending to be sympathetic. But the girl understood his motives and had given him a wrong number.


Before the Judicial Services Commission
By then, the video clip had gone viral in Kalutara. The young man who raped her in the video was afraid and took her to Kandy. She was boarded in a house of a relative but her elder sister did not let her to stay their long. She called the sister back home. The persons who saw the video threatened her and made use of her for their needs.
Police arrested all the culprits including the businessman's son, the man in the video, other rapists, the cashier of the guest house and several persons who sold the video.


They were produced in Court but all of them sans the cashier of the guest house were granted bail. The 40 year old cashier was remanded. The businessman held a party that night to celebrate his son's release.
However, under the articles 363 and 364 of 1995 No 22 Penal Code, gang raping is a non-bailable offense and could be punished to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. Under 1998 No. 23 Penal Code Amended article 286 (1), keeping obscene photos or videos of children between eight to 12 years is also an offence punishable with 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
However, the suspects have been granted bail and the issue is now about to be raised before the Judicial Services Commission.