Recently, continuous agitation prevailed in Kollavilankulam-Thunukkai in Mullaitivu following the rape of 56 Tamil women in rural areas allegedly by a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thunukkai Pradeshiya Sabha member.
Pornographic videos of those rape incidents were distributed by the culprit for sale in and around Thunukkai area and in the entire Mullaitivu District. It was also later pointed out by a group of women rights activists that such videos are now for international sale too.
Despite the police denying such incidents Mathiyamuthan Suganthy, President of the Kokkuvil Women’s Organization said she was thoroughly shocked to see pornographic videos of so many women and she said these immoral activities have caused one of the victims to commit suicide on 25 February 2015.
She pointed out that a series of such rape incidents have been continuing since the latter part of last year itself yet the affected women or other people living in the Kollavilankulam village refused to expose the injustice as they were afraid to take action against a Pradeshiya Sabha member who is politically and financially powerful.
The culprit created a favourable impression among the villagers who used to obtain financial or other assistance from him. Poor women from the Kollavilankulam village trusted the Pradeshiya Sabha member as he was assisting their families to overcome financial difficulties.
Accordingly, one of the victims among the 56 committed suicide after learning that her pornographic video was out for sale.
The victim struggled to maintain her family of four children as her income was below poverty level.
A couple of days before her death, she had gone to the culprit’s house to collect some timber to build her house, as she was offered a new house from the Indian Housing Scheme in the Mullaitivu District. However, she lacked financial support to complete the house.
When she went to the culprit’s house he had promised to give some timber but had coerced her to have sex with him. However, she had refused, but the Pradeshiya Sabha member had forcibly raped her.
The victim worked as a daily wage labourer.
Her employer who wished to remain anonymous told Ceylon Today, that there were rumours about the pornographic videos.
She said she never believed the rumours to be true, as she was a disciplined character. However, five days before her death the victim had been visibly upset.
When the employer had questioned her regarding the pornographic videos, she had burst into tears.
“I went to collect some timber but he tried to approach me sexually; I refused and rejected his request, yet he forced me to sleep with him. I didn’t know that it was video-taped. I am very upset about the situation I had to face; it is because I’m poor and nobody is willing to listen to me. Everyone thinks that I slept with consent, but I was forced,” she told her employer.
The employer further said on 25 February 2015, the victim committed suicide by consuming poisonous seeds. “She was continuously stressing on attempting suicide, but I told her to forget the past and move on yet she was thoroughly depressed and never listened to my advice,” the employer said.
Meanwhile, Kovil Women’s Organization President Suganthy said that the woman was the breadwinner of her family. The family did not even have enough financial support to organize a decent funeral. Her body was taken to the Vavuniya General Hospital for autopsy and returned to her home on a tractor as the family did not have money for traveling expenses.
“Some members of our organization rushed to the scene as we heard about the suicide; the situation was pathetic. She was a mother of four and had no financial support to maintain them. Her husband had not been cooperative to assist in the situation,” Suganthy said.
However, when the women’s rights activists visited the village, there were several rumours afloat. But the activists managed to collect evidence that 56 women in total were raped by the culprit, while it was said that some of them had sex with consent; yet Suganthy denied it.
“Most of these women were between 30 and 45 years and they are married. Some of them are young women below 30 who were forced for sexual bribes for giving employment opportunities by the Pradeshiya Sabha member. Shantha died while another two out of the 56 attempted to commit suicide yet their lives were saved. Another four women have left the country due to the unpleasant situation, but their families said they went for employment purposes,” she said.
Following the agitation in the Kollavilankulam village and a series of unpleasant incidents, Suganthy rushed to the Mallavi Police Station to lodge a complaint.
“My colleagues and I faced a terrible situation at the Mallavi Police Station. The Police constables did not allow us to meet the OIC. After continuous agitation and confrontation I managed to reach the OIC, yet he refused to accept our complaint. They said the death was a suicide and therefore no action can be taken. We pressurized the OIC to investigate further on the matter as another 55 women were affected by the pornographic videos. He agreed to accept the complaint after continuous pressure,” she said.
Police Media Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera said, there was no such complaint received by the Mallavi Police, although there were contents of such an incident published on news websites and Facebook.
After the battle at the police station, Suganthy and her group of activists visited the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi(ITAK) office in Mullaitivu to meet its leader former Parliamentarian Mavai Senathiraja. They had to face another struggle to prove the incident as the leader refused to accept it although he was aware of the incident.
“Senathiraja assured to take disciplinary action against the said Pradeshiya Sabha member when we demanded in February, yet until today neither the police nor the TNA leaders have taken suitable action on the incident,” she said.
When ITAK leader Mavai Senathiraja was contacted, regarding the incident he said the party has expelled the culprit and his membership was cancelled four months back.
“We have also requested to track him down, as we haven’t heard from him for the past six months. He was an ex-militant from one of the armed groups that operated in the North and the East and later became a member of TELO, a constituent party of the TNA. We had a shortage of candidates to contest the election right after the end of war. So he was one of those who agreed to contest. We had no issues with him when we checked on his background before nominations,” he said.
Kokkuvil Women’s Organization President, Suganthy said that the group of other activists and she were threatened by a group of gangsters to withdraw their participation on this matter.