By Keerthi Kelegama (updatedregularly)
4. Rape convictions only
14 per cent
5.
Sri Lanka Supreme Court backs rapists
6. Sri Lanka Magistrate
rapes
as Idi
Amin did
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Kelgama (kreethkala) However, for media reviews and comments, this
condition is relaxed).
Once a hefty judge of the
None
of the newspapers tried to get the story as they wanted to be in good books of
the Supreme Court because they often attacked the government. I who
investigated into it was told by the lawyers: ” He is
to retire in one year and it is not fair to sling mud at him” adding that I
must allow a margin for human error. This shows how males are trying to cover
up rape attempts. They also would have in their young days raped servant girls.
in their homes. The complaint according some source,
have gone upto the Chief Justice because this
happened within
I was told that the Supreme Court Judge so involved keeps his secretary also in addition to raping other women his chambers. As the story goes, he raped three cleaner girls and only then they had the guts of coming out with the story. Social difference between a cleaner girl and a judge of the Supreme Court is so vast that they cannot even think of complaining. If his wrath is aroused, cleaner girl being on contract job, would have not only have got dismissed immediately, but also would have been implicated in some other charge.
Therefore, it took deflowering of three girls, in succession, which made them bold and complained against. Judge concerned had a very interesting time table. Having sex with his beloved wife who was 30 years his junior in the night and early morning rapes cleaner girl. Thereafter he commences dispensing justice and before returning home, he commits adultery with the secretary in his chambers. With such moral turpitude, how does he sit in judgment of others wrong doings. It must be the duty of other judges if they know of it, to see that such people do not sit with them on the bench. How do one knows the level of those judges too. Normally males would pardon rape if rape is accompanied with no other crime.
......
I told this episode to a large number of my male friends.
Everybody laughed off the incident. Nobody even slightly would have thought
that the judge concerned is criminal. One Charted Accountant suggested me as to
why that judge did not go to
Being an investigative journalist, I came out with a false story
of how in my university days tried to rape a girl and let her go when she
cried. I told this to at least 20 known top people to see their reactions.
Thereafter 15 of them admitted that they in fact raped girls. I was privately
shocked at the figure. One crippled friend came out with a story how he raped a
very small servant girl who had not even attained puberty. After raping her lot
of blood came out and her mother thought that she would have attained puberty
and took steps in that direction. Now she is married to a man in
In a large number o families in
One lawyer told me when we hear certain rape cases certain details
cause our penises rise. Only thing is that our briefs
are pressing them down. It may be the same for the judges too, apart from woman
lawyers and woman judges. With that there could be natural sympathy for the
rapist concerned. After all we must allow a margin for human error, he said.
Woman judges should hear rape cases
I tell you ladies, mind you only a very few such
stories come to light. Majority are unknown and unheard. Males generally prefer
if they are suppressed. Hence I appeal to all the ladies concerned to clamour for lady judges
to hear rape cases. This is a must. You can see how much
I made the foregoing statement in my Book "Good-bye Chandrika" which was purchased by those including top judges and cabinet ministers causing me vulnerable for prosecution by judges themselves for defamation. This was done some 06 years ago. On August 2005 my position was vindicated by India's former chief justice and National Human Rights Commission Chairman AS Anand who said the following (Courtesy: Hindustan Times):
Rights Commission on Saturday berated
police
officers, NGOs, governmentofficials at the
Hesaid that the rape cases ought to be heard by
woman judges and in cameratoimprove the rate of conviction. Speaking to
the meet,Delhi Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit suggested
a change in rape laws; the onus should be on theaccused
to prove himself innocent.
Withthe utmost respect for former Chief Justice A.S. Anand
for making such statementI must add that he by
implication said that the judgments given by the malejudges
were not right. What Isaid six years ago is repeated
once more.Dear ladies fight for woman judges to hear
rape cases. Otherwise you would neverget
justice. You have never received justice and you shall never receive justiceif the same state of affairs
continue. Not only that the police inspectors underwhom
rape cases, are investigated and those who supervised over them in respectof rape cases mustbewoman
police officers.
Even J.R.Jayewardene when he was the
president of
President Ranasinghe Premadasa
who succeeded him said some months before July 1960 when Mrs.Sirimavo
Bandaranike contested for the post of prime minister
that if she were to become so, prime ministers chair had to be washed on
monthly basis (Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the
first woman prime minister in the world).
The Statesman" carried the following
article with above heading on
Senior police officers are quick to flash
statistics to prove why rape conviction is so low.
Incidentally the accused were found guilty in MAMC and shanty Mukand rape rape cases because
the trial was completed fast. Counsel of the Victim in the Shanti
Mukand rape case, Mrs. Meenakshi
Lekhi said:"Life
imprisonment is the maximum in a rape case. But there is a need for more
rigorous imprisonment in rape cases so that the rapist think
twice before committing the crime.
Some police officers and lawyers in the prosecution department
admitted that the conviction was very low in those cases where victims were
minors. Delay in filing FIR and lack of scientific investigation are some of
the reasons why prosecution fail to prove the guilt of
the accused.
Sri Lanka Supreme Court backs rapists (Quoting from Good-bye Chandrika publishing of which made Author Keerthi Kelegama flee his country to save his life)
Due
to pressure and also to get the husband released, a victim submitted to the
magistrate (In Sri Lanka) Lenin Ratnayaka
unwillingly. This amounted to rape. Story of her being raped four times also
accepted. The victim says that prior to
that incident, the magistrate had called for the suspect and told him among
other things that if his wife did not meet him (magistrate), he would remand him without
allowing him bail for five years. Consequently her husband asked her to meet
the magistrate.
Then comes the hundred dollar question as
to why the does the magistrate wants to see the wife so urgently or otherwise
to keep her husband in remand for five years. Firstly it means magistrate want
to have sex with her. Husband asking her to meet the magistrate no doubt
amounts to an indication signaling to her to have sex with him in order that
the magistrate would release him from remand prison.
When she was going to Gampola Rest House,she would have understood his motive but
thought it to be no mistake to submit to his will as her plan being to get her
husband released from remand prison, some how or other. Later she came to know
that the magistrate was trying to keep her husband in custody longer in order
that he can pressure her into having sex with him more times.
Subsequently she told her husband that that the magistrate had sex
with her or rather raped her but the magistrate in his cussedness, did not
allow bail.
Naturally the husband who allowed his
wife to sleep with the magistrate for the purpose of getting him bailed out,
gets wild. Because the price he paid was high enough that he expected from the
magistrate to release him at whatever cost. But nothing happened and then he
threw excreta at the magistrate which showed that he was extremely annoyed. The
cause cannot be mere refusal of bail as the magistrate tries to point out. It
is because he raped his wife promising to bail him out but refused to keep the
promise in order to ensure regular uninterrupted sexual relations with her. What
a judge, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) headed by Chief Justice GPS de
Silva tried to protect. The suspects anger with the magistrate for raping his wife as
well as with the lawyer for his infidelity culminated when he threw excreta at
the magistrate in the court which he kept hidden. He supposedly brought a small
parcel of excreta kept hidden in his person. This resulted in police officers
and prison officers breaking the legs and hands of the suspect.
Kurunegala High Court Judge G.S.Wattegedara
held and inquiry into the incident of throwing excreta at the magistrate on the
instructions of the JSC - JSC immediately look into such charges not the charge
of magistrate raping a wife of an accused. Anyway decisions arrived at this
inquiry was not made known. These cases must be heard in public not in camera
and decisions must be made known to everybody soon. Justice must not only be
done but it must seem to be done. In order to get the husband released, she met
Loku Tennekoon,
attorney-at-law to get the motion drafted. Then the lawyer asked her to see him
on Monday and then he took her to Anamaduwa Rest
House. Purpose would have been to provide her services again for the
magistrate. There she threatened to shout and therefore Attorney Loku Tennekoon had to bring her upto Waroyapola.
It
is like Idi Amin (One time
president of
This story has some relevance to the present case. Here a
Magistrate keep a husband of a woman in remand custody
in order to have sex with her. There Idi Amin kills the boyfriend for the same purpose. Meanwhile
magistrate complained to the CID’s Deputy Inspector General of Police T.V.Sumanasekara that he did not allow bail to the accused
because he was suspected of cheating government property. Hence the suspect was
angry he said adding that the purpose of swearing an affidavit by the wife of
the accused was to defame him. He denied all what was in the affidavit. On
April 01, the particular case was transferred to Galgomuwa
court and from there he was enlarged on bail at Rs.1000 for each count. But he
was immediately arrested for throwing excreta at the magistrate, causing
disrespect to the court, (Magistrate raping wife of an Accused seem to be
having no disrespect to the court) and trying to escape from prison custody.
Trying to escape is a usual charge which is even used to kill the accused while
in custody when needed. Then on 10th the accused was produced before
the magistrate court again, he was bailed out. How it is possible when the case
was transferred to Galgomuwa, the magistrate there
was able to bail him out. The friendship between the lawyer Loku
Tennekoon and the Magistrate is
well known to other lawyers and police officers. Not only in respect of women
but also in respect of lawyer fees, both of them have some understanding. If
anybody wants definite relief, the best bet was Loku Tennekoon. It is well known secret that he charges his fees
as well as those of the magistrate. The Maho
Magistrate was allowed to continue after after being
publicly charged for having raped an accused’s wife,
forcing her to submit to his will, being made her to understand that he as
magistrate, has the power of bailing out her husband or refusing it if
necessary. This is an act by Magistrate which disregarded and devalued the
Judiciary. It is worse when the Judicial Service Commission shows reluctance to
take action against the miscreant.
Just because a newspaper charging a magistrate
does not mean it is enough to take action against a magistrate by the Judicial
Service Commission. But they must inquire into the charges. When such a grave
charge is being leveled at, the person concerned must be removed from exalted
office until such time the investigations are complete. If he was innocent, he
could be reinstated.
Within six months of his appointment, he was able to function as
magistrate of Maho covering the duties of the
District Judge too, being placed over and above 54 more senior magistrates. If these
irregularities continue, it is likely the Judiciary will be further devalued.
During colonial days such a person cannot even become a police constable or a
private in the army. The Accused was arrested by Nikaweratiya
police for keeping stolen goods and was produced before Nikaweratia
Magistrate who remanded him.
Charges
were also leveled at Jinadasa Lekamge.
Loku Tennekoon and Hassen who were
attorneys-at-law for aiding and abetting in the offence. Police
Inspectors Abeyratna and Ratnayaka
were charged with assaulting the suspect and making him death threats. Victim
relates her story thus: “My
husband is jeweler. On
“So Lekamge attorney-at-law gave a
call to the magistrate over the phone and asked on which day I should make the
statement to the magistrate. I was asked to meet him at the Kurunegala
Jana Kala Centre at 4.30 p.m. on November 01, 1996.
Accordingly, I waited there and magistrate came there in a motor vehicle No.64
– 5918 and took me to Gampola Rest House where I was
taken to a room. Then he told me his problems with his family and requested
permission to adopt my girl child. Then I tried to avoid suggestion saying that
I was sick. He said that he would acquit my husband from all the counts and buy
me a land from Nikaweratiya and that I should stay
with him for three months. When I rejected, he raped me by force. He raped me
four times that day He tried to keep me
there on the following day too in the same room but later thinking that I may
make a fuss, he had taken me in the car and dropped me at Mawathagama
and gave me Rs.200. He also told me that if this incident was told to anybody,
she would be taken into custody and also I must sleep with him every Friday.
“When my husband was brought to court on November 6, I told everything to my husband. Then in order to bail out him out, he asked the help of Loku Tennekoon who took her in the vehicle to Anamaduwa Rest House where Magistrate Ratnayaka was. There he blackguarded me. Then Loku Tennekoon took her back in the car and threatened that if he tells what happened, she would be killed. Meanwhile appearing for my husband, he had collected over 100,000 but the husband was not bailed out.(This fee is definitely inclusive of magistra’s cut - for what has he done). Then they asked for the certificate from Grama Sevaka attached to his place of birth. When on February 28, the case was called up again, my husband was so angry , he threw excreta the magistrate in court. Thereafter, he was assaulted by the prison officers Samarasinghe and Tissa Dissanayaka and police.
Magistrate Ratnayaka brought a pistol and tried to assault him. Then the magistrate brought a club and assaulted him with that. When he was produced before the prison doctor, he recommended admission to the hospital but the prison officers going against the medical advice, took him back to the prison.
“Thereafter, he was transferred to Bogambara
prison and from there he was admitted to the
After that, Megistrate Lenin Ratnayaka raped an accused by the name of Gunawardana Menike. Before 1995, rape cases have to be filed within three months of the offence. But this offence being committed after 1995. Apart from filing criminal action, disciplinary action could have been taken but the Judicial Service Commission was not willing.
Up till recently, there was a case of High Court Judge raping two
servant girls, one of whom was only 12 years old. And the case was heard
at
Professor Mrs. Nirmala Perera (Head of the Faculty of Law) told me personally, that even though the High Court Judge Majeed was residing her next door, she did not know that he raped the small girl for which he was charged in a court of law.
Mrs. Perera admits of being known to the little girl who was the victim of Majeed's tantrums. Wife of the High Ciurt Judge Majeed used to persecute the little girl often. Once she saw her inhumanely assaulting that girl dropping her on the ground. Having seen the incident, she made a complaint by phone to Mirihana Police and to the Department of Probation and Child Care but none of them came to her rescue.
Apart from raping the little child, there is enough evidence to prove that the High Court judge has abused and maltreated the child and also he kept that small girl at home without sending her to a school which is an offence punishable. How come such person preside in a court and dispense justice, she added.
One of the senior most criminal lawyers Ram Jethmalani who defended very rich serial sexual
abuser/rapist having a history of abusing some fifty women, (evidence was led
only on 13) was devastated when he failed even at the Supreme case stage to
save his client. He became furious with the judges who heard his case. The
Times of India on
MUMBAI: Former Union law minister and rapist backer Ram Jethmalani has struck out at some members of the country's
apex judiciary, upbraiding them for "intellectual inadequacy".
A month after Supreme Court upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of
controversial godman Swami Premananda
for murder and rape in April this year, Jethmalani
dashed off the nine-page 'article', expressing his "urgency and
anguish". The ace criminal lawyer had defended Premananda
right from the trial stage.
It was sent out to a select few in the higher echelons of the judiciary last
month (a copy is in TOI's possession). The article
questioned the manner in which "criminal justice is being administered by
some SC judges".
Senior members of the legal fraternity have reacted to Jethmalani's
article, Future of criminal justice: How dark?, with
shock. They said his comments were akin to "hitting below the belt,
perhaps bearing in mind that the judges in their dignity would barely react to
such fulminations".
Premananda had been accused of a murder and rape of
13 girls in his ashram near Trichur in Tamil Nadu more than a decade ago. He was arrested, convicted and
sentenced to life imprisonment, and lost his final appeal in SC in April 2005.
Jethmalani, when contacted by TOI, did not deny
having written the article, but declined to comment further in the "interest
of the institution". In his article, he has noted that it's "time
that somebody courageously spoke up".
In his despatch, Jethmalani
"discussed" what he described as "intellectual inadequacy"
of some SC judges who, he said, "daily presume to deal with the life and
liberty of unfortunate citizens".
Referring to the SC judgment on the Premananda case
as "horrendous", he added that "lest it would hurt the
institution as a whole" he was sending his article to a "select (few)
people who are concerned with the reform of our judicial system". He said
it "perhaps shows where the reform should start".
Jethmalani said, "Our law and legal system are civilised, but some Gentlemen in Black, who have no
experience or understanding of the system and who in all honesty and in
conscience should refuse themselves from hearing complex matters of criminal
law, are giving it a bad name." His contention was that Premananda was convicted on the basis of
"tainted" and "inadmissible evidence" obtained after
beating witnesses.
They had allegedly raped 13 orphaned inmates and murdered one person who dared to expose them over a decade ago.
Premananda's brother, his adopted son and secretary are others who were sentenced to jail terms which, the court said, no government would commute.
Of the Rs 62 lakh-odd
penalty, Rs 60 lakh was to
be paid to the rape victims, some of whom were brought up by the priest
himself, and had been brought from
Premananda shifted to Tamil Nadu
and set up his ashram on 150 acres land in wake of ethnic violence in
Besides extensive flower and fruit plantations (including coconut,
mango, guava, jackfruit and cashew), the ashram has 10 acres of teak
plantations. The ashram has branches in the
Following a news report on
The All-India Democratic Women's Association, a CPM outfit, extended moral and legal support to the victims. First information report was lodged.
All the 13 rape victims were like "mouse before the cat. Who will bell the cat?" the Bench said, describing the plight of rape victims who were captive and dependent on Premananda for food and shelter.
When one of them asked Premananda how "could he do that when he was wearing saffron robes", he pacified her by saying "robe is different and sex is different and further".
Moreover, since he was like her father, she would not beget any children even if he had sexual intercourse with her.
Another victim told the court that Premananda once punished her by pushing his big toe in her vagina.
Another pleaded before him: "I was grown up by you since I was three years old and I am like your daughter," but to no gain.
She also told the court that Premananda would tell his victims that "although he is in a human body, he is God".
Defending Premananda and other accused, Jethmalani had argued that the accused had the consent of women, thus they could not be tried for rape.
But the Bench said consent of many had been obtained by "deceitful means". They were told that having sex with Premananda would cure their asthma or that sex with him was "service to God". Some girls had been raped under threat of "dire consequences".
Premananda dominated the ashram girls, most of whom were orphans with no alternative place to go. "Therefore it clearly falls within the third clause of Section 375 IPC".
"If the consent is obtained by deceitful means or under threat of death or hurt, it is no consent at all and it is without her consent", the apex court held, adding, therefore, the charge of rape levelled against Premananda falls within the definition of Section 375 IPC.
Also, the consent is immaterial when a girl is under 16 years of age. Three victims were below 16 years of age when they were raped, the Bench added.
Jethmalani had also argued that the accused were
subjected to an unfair trial. He had also said that witnesses and prosecutrix were beaten up by the police forcing them make
statements against the accused.
said Mukthar Mai whose rape was ordered to punish her family for
her brothers alleged affair with a woman from another family, was being taken
to the United States by foreign non-governmental organizations 'to
bad-mouth Pakistan" over the "terrible state" of the nation's
women. He said that the NGOs are westernized fringe which are as bad as Islamic extremists. He acknowledged to placing the 36 year
old on the list of people banned from leaving
said atrocities are
perpetrated daily against women in developing countries
around the world - in
Panzi: The teenage girl with flowers in her hair crossed her tiny hand to keep them from trembling and described how she was raped by militiamen.
Ombeni, was then kept as a concubine for nine months in the forests of eastern Congo and when she became pregnant militiamen removed her baby with a machete and left her alone to die on the forest floor. " I laid there for one week" said Ombeni " until insects came out of my body."
Ombeni is one of the thousands of women who are brutally raped each year by fighters in Congo, another layer of degradation in the war that never seems to end.
In briefing before the UN Security Council on Tuesday
June 21 UN Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland said the
Egeland said the scale, prevalence and profound impact of sexual violence made it one of the most serious challenges facing those trying to protect civilians caught up in war. ensuring the rapists were punished and restoring social justice system were key to addressing the endemic problem, Egeland said.
In
The teacher used to send a girl to bring his cigarettes and then he leave the class unsupervised and waited in his office. When the girl returned to the class room with flushed cheeks and tousled hair, the other students said nothing.
For nearly three months, the teacher Li Guang, raped 26 fourth and fifth grade girls in a rural
village in
"School where our children learn" said Mrs. Chang Junyin, the mother of 14 year old, "we thought, was the safest place for them."
It was sort of a horrific case in many
countries, and would become a national scandal
but in
How to escape from being raped If there is one rapist, victim could stroke the genitals of him in order that he would become somewhat tamed and keep stroking. Then, suddenly she could squeeze the testicle with all the might non stop for five minutes or so that he would be sufficiently dazed or fainted and then escape or while squeezing take out a knife from the hand bag and cut the penis severing it totally from the body, with which you could later make a soup and give it to a better animal to relish.
One also could dissolve chilli powder in
water and carry it in small bottle. When the predator arrives take some, chilli water into your hands and apply it on his eyes
resulting his being not able to open the eyes
for three four minutes and then try to reach out to other rapists too to do the
same. Or one can put chilli water into a toy water
gun and shoot at the predators face.
Now, I would tell you a story,
a true important story in order to in order to utilize it with necessary
adjustments depending on the situation. Within a period of one year preceding
Immediately after collecting
all the family members, they were lined up to be shot dead. But the pastor’s
son requested the soldiers to give them two three minutes to thank God and make
final prayer to their God before their death. The request was granted. Then the
victims sank to their knees and started praying which went on for three four
minutes. When they opened up their eyes and turned back after praying, they
found the soldiers who were pointing their guns at them. were
missing, So they gratefully thanked God and resumed their normal life.
After about two months or so
this particular pastor went to a nearby church to give a sermon. There the
pastor told this story to the congregation, explaining how miraculously they
escaped death as a result of praying to their God in their hour of need.
Then one person in that
congregation got up to admit that he was one of the army personnel who came to
shoot them dead, adding: "What happened was, while they were praying, fire
fell from the sky and that frightened them making them flee from the scene.
Having gone some 150 to 200 meters away from the pastor’s house, they looked
back to see that the pastor’s house was on fire, resulting in their becoming
more and more frightened, making them hurry out of the area soon."
After this incident he who came
to kill the pastor and his family, naturally got interested in Christianity and
started visiting a church. This story was told to the congregation of Bethel
Church, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, by the pastor’s wife Indrani Kitto adding that the
message was received by Email from a Christian mission in Canada, that week. I
wondered if it happened to a Buddhist family, they would simply face death,
without asking the help of God.
When I told this story to a
Briton who was an elder among Jehovah’s Witnesses, he told me that it may be
the Satan who saved them in order that the pastor could continue to
misinterpret Christianity. I did not agree with that bullshit.
Even Mrs. Indrani
Kitto, referred to earlier was
born one eye blind, a fact known to the entire church congregation. A judge of
the Supreme Court Max Perera or some such Christian
requested the people to come forward who wanted prayer support. So Mrs. Kitto went forward and Justice Perera
prayed for her and she received immediate eye sight
Even here the Christian pastor
and his family members have received an extension of life after praying to God.
Almight God can also give punishment for new sins and
terminate the allotted life of the sinners.
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