Where power becomes the cover  

By Nadira Gunatilleke/Daily News

Colombo, August 19: What if your young daughter/ granddaughter is gang raped by a group of students in her own school? What if you were gang raped by male students during your childhood ?  What if you are being forced to commit suicide by the doctor who is supposed to help you?

We should immediately change our mentality which encourages us to ignore crimes whenever it happens to someone else and NOT to me or my loved ones. This is because one day the victim can be you or one of your loved ones.

Last week, the media reported that the police arrested the female Vice Principal and an over 50 years old male English teacher attached to a state school located at Mahawela, Matale after the teacher raped a seven 12 years old school girl in the school staff room during school hours and the Vice Principal concealed the incident by threatening the victim.

The Police commenced investigations on a case where a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Thanamalwila was raped by 22 schoolboys. The Women and Child Affairs State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe asked the Education Minister and Health Minister to take legal action against all those involved in covering up the crime.

According to media reports last week, her boyfriend, who was one of those school boys, is reported to have deceived her and taken her to a friend’s house, forced her to take liquor and sexually abused her with friends for the first time. They had also video recorded the crime. The school boys had gang-raped her on seven occasions during 2023 by threatening to release the video over social media.

After that they had blackmailed her, raped her at times by the schoolboy with whom she had been in love and by 21 others of her school and another school for more than a year. The victim had told police she was taken to a jungle located on the Kirindioya River bank last week and gang raped by seven schoolboys who video recorded it. They had gang-raped the girl in toilets and sports restrooms when they were attending sports matches at other schools. The girl had also been abused at the homes of other students.

Media reports described how the incident had been swept under the carpet by the Principal and the Disciplinary Committee of the school. The school authorities had decided to conceal the incident to protect the school’s reputation. It had also been reported that the son of a prominent Tuition Master and a female teacher of the school had been involved in the abuse of the girl, prompting school authorities to conceal the matter.

The mother of the boy is a teacher while the father is reported to be a teaching instructor in the Education Zone in that area. Investigations revealed that the Principal had obtained letters from the parents and the students concerned to avoid legal action. The matter had come to light after the Thanamalvila police launched an inquiry based on a tip-off. The victim was questioned.

Last week, the Principal, the Vice Principal and two female teachers in charge of the disciplinary committee of the relevant National School were arrested by the Thanamalwila Police for concealing information. Another woman has also been arrested. Later, the four suspects (Principal and three teachers) were granted bail with two sureties of Rs.200,000 each. Statements were recorded from some parents.

The media reported that the mother of the child informed the police that while being admitted for a medical examination at the Hambantota Hospital, a doctor at the hospital had caused fear in the child, making her attempt suicide. The victim’s mother filed a complaint with the Hambantota police and the police’s Children and Women Bureau in this regard.

Now you all read the story. The objective of this column is NOT to make the victim a baby, an angel or a Goddess. She pushed herself into danger by starting a love affair with another student which cannot be approved on any grounds. Schoolchildren should study. They should NOT make love. Female schoolchildren should go back  to their own homes after school and NOT to their boyfriends’ homes.

There is a message from this to all of us who are Sri Lankan citizens belonging to all ages, both sexes, all ethnicities, religions etc. It matters to people from all walks of life because this is NOT the first or the last such incident reported.

First of all, all Sri Lankan parents who have young daughters should look after their kids because the government, the President and the relevant Cabinet Minister cannot do it. They can make policies but cannot look after every single young female child living in every single home with or without their parents, especially their mothers.

Therefore, it is the mother, father and the guardian who is directly responsible for the safety of any child below the age of 18. Only after that comes all officials and authorities.

All school authorities in Sri Lanka should make sure that those young female schoolchildren who come to the school as virgins in the morning should leave the school as virgins because the parents and guardians cannot protect them while they are in school. Parents and guardians are NOT allowed to protect children during school hours.

Then comes the norm which makes the victim the criminal and the criminal the victim! This culture protects all types of perpetrators if they are `connected’ to powerful individuals. No ordinary Sri Lankan citizen can obtain any service from any Sri Lankan state or private institution if he or she does not have a family member, a relation, a friend, a neighbour in these institutions as a contact.

Is this Justice? Is it `Aragala’ ?

This is the real `system’ in this country in the past seven and half decades. It needs to change at any cost but NO ONE demands this change because it is a disadvantage to all. All demanded a system change in the recent past but it was NOT this system change! People who run the system will never allow anyone ever to change it!

The Thanamalwila incident shows that the perpetrators of the      crime have been made the `victims’ and the victims the `perpetrator’.  Here in Sri Lanka brats of rich and powerful parents are allowed to rape innocent helpless school girls.

There is this short but impossible answer for this problem. If your young daughter listens to you, there will NOT be any problem. No one will be able to harm your daughter using any tactic. If your young daughter tells you everything immediately no matter how embarrassing it is, there will be NO issues.

Bringing up such a disciplined daughter is the biggest problem. It is the inability and ignorance of the parents which prevent a solution. A young girl must be encouraged to value her body and not allow anybody to trifle with it. And equally importantly, the mother must be give the girl child the assurance that a solution will be found to her problem.

Whenever someone harms such a well-brought up daughter, she would run home and seek the protection of her parents, especially her mother. The child knows very well that she can tell anything to her mother without fearing punishment or scolding. She would know where genuine help is available!

Rape of young school girls occurs in societies where there is a gender and power hierarchy and where parental empathy and proper instruction are lacking at home.

END