News
Lingering fears over child marriage, statutory rape resurface
View(s):By Senuka Jayakody
A marriage ceremony between a 15 year old girl and a 19 year old boy was to take place on Sunday at a reception hall of Saurupura in Angulana, Moratuwa.
The girl had not studied beyond Grade 10 and had been in a romantic relationship for a long time with the youth, with the consent of their families. A wedding ceremony had been arranged following an argument between the boy and the girl’s grandfather, after the pair had eloped to a relative’s house.
But, the police intervened and arrested the pair. The boy was released on bail with conditions, while the girl was handed over to her mother.
This, once again, reflects the incidence of child marriage in Sri Lanka, which UN agencies such as Unicef say is low compared with other South Asian countries, but that the prevalence is high among some communities. The incident also has brought into public focus, the issue of statutory rape, which Section 363 of the Penal Code defines as sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16 years, with or without consent.
The police, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society have expressed concerns.
Police spokesman, Nihal Thalduwa said statutory rape that occurs as a result of romantic relationships, has become “a serious social issue”.
“Parents should be more concerned about children,’’ he said, explaining that rape cases of girls under 16 years with consent was higher than the cases without consent.
According to police statistics, 1720 statutory rape cases were reported in 2021, while 1230 cases have been reported so far for this year.
Last year, of the 1720 statutory rape cases – 1382 were with consent and 338 were without consent. This year so far, of the 1230 statutory rape cases reported, 951 cases reported were with consent and 279 without consent.
“There is a risk of households with economic issues marrying off their family members below 18 years, but statutory rape occurs regardless of poverty,’’ the NPCA Chairman, Mr Udaya Kumara Amarasinghe said.
Mr. Amarasinghe said even in pre-crisis years, girls under 16 in households where the mother had left to take up a job overseas, are more vulnerable to statutory rape. 
“Child sexual abuse occurs through online mediums as well now, owing to the increasing use of the internet among children with online education during the Covid-19 period,’’ he said.
“Children were not always supervised by an adult, like when they learned physically with a teacher present, leading to online romantic relationships, being misled to improper websites, even the exchange of nude photographs and blackmailing resulting from that,’’ Mr. Amarasinghe explained.
He said most child abuse cases are not reported due to the “iceberg phenomenon’’. Since the offenders are often a person close to the victim, statistics can be misleading.
He said grave offences such as rape, and minor offences such as not applying for a birth certificate for the child, render statistics of child abuse dubious.
Up to September 31, around 1,300 child cruelty cases have been reported to the NCPA.
Police spokesman, Mr Thalduwa, denied there had been a large increase in child abuse cases and said it was limited to an extreme minority. However, the police will not hesitate to act, if a complaint is filed. “Offenders will be punished under the Penal Code,’’ he said.
| Court lauds girl who overcame childhood horror A man who raped a school girl nine years ago, was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous Imprisonment by Colombo High Court Judge Mr Nawarathna Marasinghe this week. The accused pleaded guilty when the victim was about to give evidence for the second day. He was ordered to pay Rs 300,000 as compensation. A fine of Rs 25,000 was also imposed. The girl who was below 16 years of age at the time of the incident in 2013, is now an undergraduate, and told the court that her focus now is, “mental freedom and education’’. The judge said that the girl is an example to others about getting on with life. The offence was serious and only second to murder, the judge said, adding that if the parents had been careful, it could have been prevented. The convict, who was 30 at that time, was working as a labourer near the victim’s house. — By Manopriya | |
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!