Lanka army accused of operating torture chamber in school

Survivors of a Sri Lankan military-run detention centre that once have alleged that the army had operated a torture chamber in a government school and that the skeletons found in a mass grave  in Matale belong to victims of that torture chamber.

The ‘Mirror’ reported on Saturday March 30 that the allegations come in the wake of carbon dating which revealed skeletal remains of over 150 bodies buried in the 1986-1990 years.

Political Secretary of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Pubudu Jayakody, who claimed that the remains unearthed were of his former comrades of JVP, stressed that the inmates of the torture chamber, which was operated from Vijaya Vidyalaya in the 1989-90, would soon come out to relate their ordeal in the torture chamber. For the present, they have decided t keep away due to security concerns, he said.

“A torture chamber was operated by a unit of the Gajab Regiment of the Army in the Vijaya Vidyalaya, which was located near the Matale Hospital,” he said.

“There are survivors of that torture chamber. And some of them are active members of our party even now and they will soon come out to reveal their experiences in the camp,” he said.

Demanding an inquiry into the mass grave, Jayakody lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) on Thursday March 28.
Two reports submitted to the Matale magistrate have said that the skeletal remains belong to the period of the southern uprising.

The report accused the security forces and state-backed death squads for carrying out large-scale extra-judicial killings and held them responsible for mass disappearances.

Early this week, a report was submitted to the Matale Magistrate by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Matale giving horrifying details of torture at the detention camp.

The report said heads had been severed from victims’ bodies with electric saws and some skulls bore evidence that nails had been driven into the heads of victims. Some skulls showed that blunt weapons had been used to attack the victims, the report said.

In an earlier report, Professor of Forensic Archaeology at the University of Kelaniya Prof. Raj Somadeva, who was commissioned by the magistrate to prepare a report on the mass grave, confirmed that the grave cannot be older than 1986 and not newer than 1990.

Man charged for raping an underage girl

A man was ordered to be held in remand custody until April 26 by Kantale acting magistrate Shanika Perera on Thursday March28 on charges of raping an underage girl at his house until she reached the legal age to be married, the ‘Mirror’ reported.

The suspect, identified as Nandana Pushpakumara, a 24- year-old resident casual labourer of Permaduwa, Kantale, was reportedly the boyfriend of the girl.

The suspect had taken the girl to his house with the consent of his and her parents and kept her there until she reached the legal marriageable age.

The Kantale police arrested the suspect on receiving information from a neighbour and the girl has been admitted to Kantale Base Hospital for examination.

Under the advice of the Kantale Police HQI Nimal Bandara,

Children’s and Women’s Bureau OIC Anjali Kodituwakku is conducting further investigations.

Lankan maid tried to commit suicide in Kuwait

A Sri Lankan maid tried to commit suicide inside her sponsor’s house at Mangaf in Kuwait City by consuming some medicine, the ‘Ada Derana’ reported on Saturday March 30.

When the Kuwaiti woman sponsor walked into the maid’s room, she found her unconscious on the floor and a team of rescue men had rushed to the scene after the operations room received information from the sponsor.

Arab Times reported that the maid was referred to Adan Hospital where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

A case was registered against the housemaid.

 

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