By Waruni Karunarathne - From THE SUNDAY LEADER
The police said that they had conducted the necessary investigations into the complaint lodged by the parents of a girl saying that their daughter had been allegedly abducted by the youngest son of Cabinet Minister Rajitha Senaratne.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Police Media spokesperson Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ruwan Gunasekara said that at the time of the complaint they had conducted the necessary investigations but they closed the investigation as the case could not be considered as a crime under the Penal Code.
He added that the girl had gone with the Minister’s son willingly and she was above sixteen years old at the time and therefore it did not fall in to the category of a crime under the Penal code.
“The mother of the girl, Indira Rodrigo had also lodged a complaint with the Children & Women Bureau on the 17th of October 2014. The Children & Women Bureau had recorded a statement from the girl, Dinithi Aloka about the incident and the girl had stated that she went on her own will,” he added. According to him the girl had also accused the parents of harassing her.
However, the girl’s father Gamini Ranasignhe denied claims of harassing the girl. He said that as parents they may have been tough with the girl at some points but had never harassed her. He also added that Minister Senaratne’s family had been their family friends since 1986 and they had been in close association. Therefore he added that they wanted to sort this matter out among the families yet the minister’s family did not send their daughter back despite the parents’ requests. However he added that at the time of the incident the daughter was a little younger than 16years. He added that she was abducted on the 24th of February 2014 and they got to know she was taken by the youngest son of Minister Senaratne. However he added that after lodging complaints with the Children Bureau and going to the Kuruduwatta police they got the child released on the condition that she would stay with her grandmother – but she was taken back on 6th April. According to him, when they went to Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s house looking for her, the Minister had said that she had come willingly after lodging an entry with the police.
According to the father, their daughter was manipulated by the money and power of the Minister’s family and so they were holding her against the parents’ consent. “She is just a child. She had been promised to be sent to London for studies and likewise she was being misled in certain ways. She is just a kid and they, as responsible adults, should have handed her over to us but instead they were using their power political power and were hardly allowing us to see the child. It was on the 01st of October 2014 we last saw the child” Ranasignhe added. He accused several people for misleading and manipulating the child.
Meanwhile when Minister Rajitha Senaratne was questioned at a press conference, he had denied the allegations. According to the Minister, the girl came willingly as the child had been harassed by the parents.He also alleged that the whole incident was an attempt to sling mud at him
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