( Police officer tell Tamil mother ‘ it is up to you to discipline your men’ )
Demonstrations and protests should be peaceful and democratic.
Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran said some mischief- makers are trying bring the people into conflict with the police and create opinion that it could only be controlled by the Army. These mischief makers should not be allowed to ride on the back of the grieving people and that the people should be careful to protest peacefully and resume routine life.
Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi Leader Jaffna Parliamentarian Mavai Senathyraja has requested the demonstrators to exercise restrain in conducting protest. He has urged that demonstrations and protests should be peaceful and democratic. It should not lead to breach of peace.He made this appeal in the background of the demonstration in Jaffna following the murder of teenage student turning unruly.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Civil Society Forum, in a statement said a post-war environment of heavy militarisation, lenience towards drugs and alcohol abuse and damaged social networks were contributing factors to rape within the society.
ES
Senior officers of Sri Lanka police transferred over violence in Jaffna
May 22, Colombo: Following the violent clashes erupted in the Northern city of Jaffna Wednesday over the brutal rape and murder of a school girl, several senior police officers of the Northern Province have been transferred with immediate effect.
Police Media Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told media that following the violent incidents which took place in Jaffna recently, the Inspector General of Police N.K. Ilangakoon has ordered the transfers.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Superintendent of Police (SP) and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and Officers-In-Charge of Jaffna and Kayts Police have been transferred with immediate effect.
The IGP, who ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct the investigation into the crime, visited Jaffna Thursday and Friday to make inquiries on the tense situation and instruct the police on further actions.
Violent protests broke out in the city and the protesters attacked the court complex and the police charging that the police were too slow to act on arresting the suspects and bringing them to justice.
They demanded the court to act swift and give death penalty to all the nine suspects arrested for the gang rape and murder of 18-year-old student of Pungudutivu Maha Vidyalayam whose body was found with her hands and legs bound to a log few days after she went missing.
The protesters claimed that police did not act fast to find her when the mother of the girl complained to the police of her disappearance.
Expressing condolences to the family of the recently murdered Vithya, the TCSF note that this was not an isolated incident and that gang rapes had happened before in post-conflict Jaffna.
The TCSF called on the people of Jaffna to continue to take peaceful democratic action through protests to ensure that Sir Lanka’s police took unbiased action and brought justice.
The statement also called for a long term plan to be produced to work to alleviate the environmental circumstances that had created an environment for such crimes to occur.
CP