Krishanti Kumaraswamy

Krishanti Kumaraswamy (Tamil: கிருஷாந்தி குமாரசுவாமி), also spelled Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, was a Tamil woman in Sri Lanka who was raped and murdered on 7 August 1996 by 6 Sri Lankan Army soldiers; the effort to bring her assailants to justice became a cause célèbre as a part of the protest against atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan Army during the Sri Lanka civil war.

Krishanti Kumaraswamy
கிருஷாந்தி குமாரசுவாமி
Krishanti Kumaraswamy
Born1977
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
DiedAugust 7, 1996(1996-08-07) (aged 18–19)
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
OccupationStudent
Parent(s)Rassammah and Kumaraswamy

Incident

On August 7, 1996 Krishanti Kumaraswamy went missing on her way home after sitting her GCE Advanced Level examination, equivalent to grade 12 in many countries, at Chundikuli Girls High School. She was last seen alive at 11:30 am at Kaithady Army checkpoint in Jaffna.

Her mother Rassammah, brother Pranavan (age 16), and family friend Kirupakaran (age 35) became concerned and went in search of Krishanti. They were also murdered.[1]

According to pro-rebel Tamilnet, forty five days later, the bodies of the four were later found in shallow graves within the army base. A three quarter width rope was found tied round the neck of Rassammah’s corpse. Kirupakaran too appeared to have been strangled in the same manner since the rope was wound tightly round his body. The bodies of Krishanti and her brother Pranavan were cut in several pieces and haphazardly wrapped in black colored sheets.[2]

Later investigations revealed that she was abducted by five soldiers and another six gang raped and killed her at the checkpoint.[3]

Government investigation

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations like Women for Peace[4] launched a sustained campaign to pressure the Sri Lankan government to arrest and prosecute the soldiers. Six soldiers who were directly involved in the raping were sentenced to death by the court of the government of Sri Lanka.[5]

In the court case about her rape and murder one of the accused informed the state about an alleged mass grave known as Chemmani mass graves that was investigated to contain 15 bodies.[6]

According to pro-rebel Tamilnet, a local activist who worked to expose her case was killed by unknown gunmen on February 1, 2007.[2]

See also

References
  1. "SUNILA ABEYSEKERA: PEACE CAMPAIGNER ON A WAR-TORN ISLAND". Collection. Archived from the original on 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  2. "Jaffna MPCS President assassinated". Tamilnet. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  3. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2002-02-23). "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2001-06-07. Retrieved 2006-12-28.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. "Sunila Abeysekara: Peace campaign on a war torn Island". UNESCO.org. 2007-02-02.
  5. "Death sentence for Krishanthi accused". Tamilnet. 1998-07-03. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
  6. "'No instructions on Chemmani' CID". BBC. 4 January 2006.
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