‘No rapes committed by Security Forces in North and East’
Sandasen Marasinghe
The members of the security forces have not been involved in the any
sexual assault, in North and East, Defence and Urban Development
Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. He said according to the
statistics and revelations of a study conducted at hospital level no
evidence was found that the personnel attached to the security forces
were involved in sexual assaults in North and East provinces.
The Defence Secretary said that he initiated a study after a
particular ambassador made a complaint quoting media that personnel
attached to Security Forces were involved in sexual assaults in the
North and East.
He made these observations at the seminar, ‘Crime, Corruption and
National Security’, on the role of the mass media in raising public
awareness on the prevention of crime and corruption held at the
Information Department auditorium.
He said during the study, Police and hospital statistics were
considered, the victims would not go to Police to lodge a complaint.
He added however the statistics on rape incidents in the North and
East when analyzed revealed that rape has been committed by a very close
relative like grandfather, father, uncle, brother, brother-in-law, step
father etc, by a neighbour, by a known person and very rarely by a
stranger.
The Defence Secretary further stated thatwhen the victims who were
raped by close relatives are considered it seemed that they were at a
very young age and have been raped by their own guardians. The case with
victims who were raped by neighbours too was the same.
He also said that there were three occasions when army deserters were
involved in rapes in North, but it was in villages in Vavunia where
Sinhala speaking families live.
The Defence Secretary further said the Police or the Security Forces
have no control over these types of crimes and parents are responsible
for their children being victims of these types of crimes.
He also said that the objective of those who make these baseless
allegations may be to justify their attempts to evict the Security
Forces from the North and East.
Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and
Information Department Director General Prof Ariyaratne Athugala also
spoke.
Media Center for National Security Director General Lakshman
Hulugalla was also present.
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