News
Schoolgirl (13) sexually abused in Jaffna
View(s):Nearly one month after the rape in Punkudutheevu, a 13-year-old schoolgirl was sexually abused by a man at Atchuveli in Jaffna on Friday, Police said. They said they arrested a suspect on the day of the incident. As the Special Task Force (STF) continued to maintain order in Jaffna, following the recent unrest, two more persons were arrested in connection with the attack on the court house, a senior officer attached to the Jaffna Deputy Inspector General’s (DIG) office said.
He said the arrests were made after detectives examined the video footages taken during the incident. Around 130 persons were arrested in connection with the attack on the Jaffna Courts Complex on May 20. The attack took place following days of protests over the gruesome rape and murder of 18-year-old schoolgirl from Punkudutheevu. The suspects were produced in courts in two batches.
On Monday, 47 suspects charged with damaging public property and disrupting law and order in the area, were produced before Jaffna Magistrate P. Sivakumar. The Magistrate ordered that they be remanded till June 9, while two undergraduates were released on bail.
Another batch of 43 suspects charged with assembling in public to cause unrest and damage to public property, were produced before Additional Magistrate Kajanithi Palan on Wednesday and remanded till June 12. More protests took place in the north this week over the rape incident. On Thursday, a peaceful protest was organised in Point Pedro, urging the authorities to speed up investigations on the alleged gang rape and murder of Vidya Sivaloganathan in Punkudutheevu. Shops in the city area were closed for an hour in protest against the rape.
The Jaffna Magistrate on May 23 ordered a two-week ban on protests. Meanwhile, nine suspects allegedly involved in the gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Jaffna, were produced before Kayts Magistrate V. Leninkumar on Monday. They were further remanded until June 15. The Magistrate ordered police to submit a report on the telephone calls made by the suspects, at the time of the incident.
One suspect told court that he was in Colombo and had withdrawn cash from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) of a private bank in Wellawatta on the day of the murder. The Magistrate ordered police to obtain CCTV footage of the ATM the suspect claims to have used. – (SR)