Police officer strictured for dereliction of duty

A police officer testifying before the High Court Trial-at-Bar for the gang rape and gruesome murder of a schoolgirl in Punguduthivu, Jaffna, S. Vidya, was this week questioned as to how he failed to arrest a key suspect wanted in connection with the murder.

During the 7-hour long testimony, the former Headquarters Inspector of Kayts, Quintus Perera said that, at the time of the incident, he didn't know about the 9th suspect, Mahalingam Sasikumar alias Swiss Kumar. Therefore, he was not able to arrest him promptly, before he escaped to Colombo.

The 3-member Trial-at-Bar comprises High Court Judge (HCJ) of Vavuniya; B. Sasi Mahendran- President, HCJ of Trincomalee, Annalingam Premashankar, and HCJ of Jaffna, M. Elancheliyan.

The Bench noted that, failure to arrest the suspect resulted in a severe breach of law and order in Kayts, that led to the attacks on the Jaffna HCs later.

The Bench noted that, when Swiss Kumar was arrested by the Wellawatte police, they sought further information on him, but the officer had failed to provide the information.

The witness was warned for not performing his duties effectively, while noting that he took official leave the next day and went to Maharagama courts, claiming to appear in the courts.

The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Jaffna hospital, Dr Uruththirapasupathy Mayuran testifying as the 23rd witness, explained the victim could have died either from internal bleeding due to rape, suffocation as her mouth was gagged with an undergarment or by strangulation

Senior Lecturer- Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, V.T. Thamilmaran, appearing as witness, outlined the circumstances that led him to take the 9th suspect in his car to the Jaffna police station.

The suspects in the case are B. Indrakumar, B. Thavakumar, B. Jeyakumar, M. Sashitharan, T. Chandrahasan, S. Dushanth, P.R. Guhathasan, J. Kokilan, and M. Sashikumar.