By Nadia Fazlulhaq-Sunday, October 20, 2013
JMO’s report confirms severe sexual abuse which police, child protection authorities ‘refused to see’ for two years
Probation officers, along with child rights activists, vow to conduct a protest campaign against the inaction of police and child protection authority officials to arrest a Buddhist monk for allegedly causing sexual harm to a boy under his supervision at an orphanage in Vavuniya.
Our photographer Priyantha Hewage took these photographs (above and below) under difficult circumstances when NCPA officials arrived at the home to take away the children to a safer refuge. The chief suspect is also in the picture above.
After a Judicial Medical Officer’s (JMO) report revealed that a 10-year-old boy had suffered sexual abuse, including injuring his private parts with a sharp object, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) last week transfered all 22 children from the Seth Sevana orphanage supervised and managed by Ven. Etambagaskada Kalyanatissa Thera.
The children have been brought to Colombo. The Sunday Times learns that despite continuous complaints during the past two years, from the district child rights officer and the supervisor appointed by the Probation Department, the NCPA had not responded to the complaints.
“It is only after the child’s mother lodged a complaint with the Vavuniya police that the NCPA rushed to the place and took away the children. However, the suspect monk is still to be questioned or arrested,” said All Island Probation Officers Association Secretary, K.K. Keerthiratne.
He said that there have been several complaints, both verbal and written. According to him, in 2011, Vavuniya Probation Officer Ruwan Dharmadasa lodged a complaint with the NCPA.
“However, the NCPA Chairman responded in a letter (PU/11/01/01) that the orphanage has no such issue and that the inmates were happy. Since then, our complaints were hardly responded to,” he added.
“If the authorities could have arrested a Catholic nun who was the head of an orphanage in Rawatawatta, even before recording statements, and arrested the Pastor of the Agape children’s home, without recording statements from the children, why should this incident be treated differently? Civil status should not be considered when a crime is committed against a child,” he said.
The victim is from Poovarasakulum, a rural village in Vavuniya gripped by poverty,. The victim’s mother, a 56 year-old widow with five children, told the Sunday Times that she had no means of income after her husband was killed by a militant group.
A worker at the home tries to shut out the photographer
As she had to work as a domestic aide, she handed over her son to the temple authorities, after the monk promised to take care of him.
“I wanted him to be educated. But after I handed him over, I was allowed to meet him only twice within the last two years. Last year I complained to the NCPA, and a statement was recorded. After many requests, I got my son back in December 2012. He has been crying out loud every time he used the toilet, and complained of severe pain while urinating. He was not the child he used to be,” she said.
Following continuous pain and bleeding, she admitted him to the Vavuniya Hospital, after which he had confessed.
“There were JMO reports both from Vavuniya and Anuradhapura. I complained to the grama niladhari, the police and to officials of an international humanitarian organisation in Vavuniya too,” she said.
Police Spokesman SP Ajith Rohana told the Sunday Times that there is a lack of credible evidence to arrest the said monk, and that the police were still in the process of recording statements from the children who were brought to Colombo from Vavuniya. “There are some contradictory statements in the JMO’s reports regarding this child’s incident. We cannot act only on one medical report, the police needs more evidence,” the spokesman said.
Regarding the police constable who is presently attached to the temple, the Police spokesman said that almost all temples in this area have been given a police officer for security purposes during the conflict years, and they continue to remain on duty.
Child Development and Women’s Affairs Ministry Secretary Eric Illeyapparachchi said that the NCPA has been instructed to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the incident.
Both Child Development Minister Tissa Karaliyedda and NCPA Chairperson Anoma Dissanayake are overseas attending programmes on children. Save the Children’s International Child Safeguarding Director, Menaca Calyaratne said that if the child was in the care of the monk, he should be held responsible for providing a safe environment for children.
“While justice is sought for the affected child, all the support the child needs to recover from this incident and its trauma, should be provided,” she said. She said if children have to be placed in institutional care, these institutions must be constantly monitored by the government authority, to ensure that the children’s rights are not violated.
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