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v t e Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009)
Origins	Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism Sinhala Only Act 1956 1958 Vaddukoddai Resolution 1977 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library Black July
Combatants	Sri Lanka Army (LRRP) Navy Air Force Police Special Task Force Home Guards Attacks on civilians Assassinations LTTE Divisions Air Tigers Sea Tigers Black Tigers Attacks in the 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Assassinations Suicide bombings Other militants (list) ENDLF ENLF EPRLF EROS PLOTE TELO  India Indian Peace Keeping Force Paramilitary groups EPDP TMVP
Phases	Eelam War I Indian intervention Eelam War II III IV Eastern / Northern theatres
Major battles	Kokkilai Vadamarachchi Poomalai Pawan Jaffna University Helidrop Balavegaya 1st Elephant Pass Pooneryn Riviresa 1st Mullaitivu Weli Oya Sath Jaya Vavunathivu Jayasikurui Thandikulam–Omanthai 1st Kilinochchi Oddusuddan A-9 highway 2nd Elephant Pass Bandaranaike Airport attack Point Pedro Jaffna Thoppigala Vidattaltivu 2nd Kilinochchi 2nd Mullaitivu Puthukkudiyirippu
Major events	Air Lanka Flight 512 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Expulsions from Northern province Assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa Temple of the Tooth attack Lionair Flight 602 Bandaranaike Airport attack Expulsions from Colombo 2009 suicide air raid on Colombo
Leaders	Sri Lanka Military Army Tissa Weeratunga Nalin Seneviratne Hamilton Wanasinghe Cecil Waidyaratne G. H. De Silva Rohan Daluwatte Srilal Weerasooriya L. P. Balagalle Shantha Kottegoda Sarath Fonseka Navy Asoka de Silva H. A. Silva Clancy Fernando D. A. M. R. Samarasekara H. C. A. C. Thisera Daya Sandagiri Wasantha Karannagoda Air Force Dick Perera Andibuduge Fernando Makalandage Gunawardena Oliver Ranasinghe Jayalath Weerakkody Donald Perera Roshan Goonetileke Civilian J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa LTTE Militant Velupillai Prabhakaran Pottu Amman Soosai Karuna Amman Political Selvarasa Pathmanathan Anton Balasingham S. P. Thamilselvan India Military Harkirat Singh Ashok K. Mehta Kulwant Singh Depinder Singh Dalvir Singh Krishnaswamy Sundarji Civilian R. Venkataraman Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Jyotindra Nath Dixit J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Vaiko
Aftermath	Genocide Films NPC resolution LLRC Reactions (Protests) Remembrance Day UN Panel on Accountability War crimes Chemical weapons
Related topics	Casualties Assassinations Massacres Child soldiers Disappearances Office on Missing Persons Human rights Popular culture Terrorism Non-state State PTA Sexual violence Sixth Amendment Thirteenth Amendment 1988 Maldives coup attempt 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
Sri Lankan civil war at Wiktionary    Source texts at Wikisource    Textbooks at Wikibooks   Images and media at the Commons    Quotations at Wikiquote    News stories at Wikinews

Sarathambal or Sarathambal Saravanbavananthatkurukal was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil woman who was gang raped and killed on 28 December 1999 and became a an Internationally known incident. of the Sri Lankan civil war.

Incident

According to AHRC report on 28 December 1999, Mrs.Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, 29, daughter of a local Hindu temple priest was forcibly dragged out from her home, in Pungudutivu, near Jaffna Peninsula, allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy soldiers.

Her house was situated at about 500m from a navy camp. Her father and brother were tied up allegedly by four security officers dressed in black. Her dead body was found on barren land about 100m away from their home the next day.

After public protest, her body was sent to Colombo for post-mortem by a senior JMO who indicated that the cause of death was "asphyxia due to gagging"; that her underpants had been stuffed inside her mouth; and that "forcible sexual intercourse" had taken place.

Her funeral was attended by a cross section of Sri Lankan activist from around the nation. Vasudeva Nanayakara, then Member of Parliament, S.Sivadasan, the then EPDP Parliamentarian, Maheswary Velautham, Attorney-at-Law and the Secretary Of the Forum for Human Dignity and Nimalka Fernando Of the Movement for Inter Racial, Justice and Equality delivered funeral orations

Government investigation

The government under president Chandrika Kumaratunga ordered an immediate investigation but In mid-March 2000, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women Radhika Coomaraswamy, who is herself Sri Lankan, emphasized the lack of government response to allegations of sexual violence by security personnel in Sri Lanka.

She noted too, that, despite a presidential directive, little effort had been made to investigate the December 1999 gang-rape and murder by naval personnel of twenty-nine-year-old Sarathambal Saravanbavananthatkurukal near Jaffna.

Victims father and brother were allegedly threatened not to reveal the identity of the four men who came to the house. According to the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, who had been instructed by the President of Sri Lanka to investigate the rape and murder, the brother had "not been able to identify any of the four persons who came to the house".

It is alleged by witnesses that the soldiers who raped Sarathambal have been transferred from the area to prevent action being taken against them.

The Attorney General’s Department informed the Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and Harassment (CIUAH) in late May of 2001 that there will be no prosecution relating to the Sarathambal rape and murder case, as the police report contained no evidence on the offenders.

See also

• Krishanti Kumaraswamy
• Ilayathambi Tharsini
• Ida Carmelitta

Notes

•  Protest: More than 500 villages staged a demonstration outside the navy camp in northern Sri Lanka to protest the rape and murder of Sarathambal S. The protestors carried placards accusing members of the armed forces for carrying out the brutal crime they also told reportersWe organised this demonstration not just to register our protest against the raping and murder, but this has become a matter for self, respect, not only for women, but also for men. That’s why we staged this demonstration carrying dry palmyrah leaves. We wanted to show the world the undignified manner in which the human beings in these areas are treated-human beings are treated not worth more than a dry palmyrah leaf”.They went on to explain that there had been previously many unreported cases of harassment and sexual violence by security forces. According to the village people, whenever women and girls passed through a military barrier or checkpoint they were subjected to various kinds of dirty antics by the army forces.
  

•  CIUAH: The government appointed a new Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and Harassment (CIUAH) in mid-December. The nine-member Committee will again be led by Lakshman Jayakody and include the new Justice minister Batty Weerakoon and other ministers - GL Peiris, SB Dissanayake, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Douglas Devananda. The Committee will receive complaints on illegal detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency regulations, delay in cases, harassment by security forces during and after arrest, non-issue of arrest receipts, police registration, holding relatives as hostages and problems faced by people from north-east Sri Lanka.
  

References

1. "UN press release on Sarathambal case". UNHCR.org. 2007-03-28.
2. "Sarathambal murder". Sri Lanka Monitor.org. 2007-03-27.
3. ^ "SRI LANKA: Rape in custody 2002". Amnesty.org. 2007-02-22.
4. "UN report". HRI.ca. 2007-03-27.
5. ^ "SRI LANKA: Systematic Detention,Torture, Rape and Murder as Weapon of War". AHRC.org. 2007-03-27.
6. ^ "Violence against women" (PDF). Humiliation Studies.org. 2007-03-28.
7. "Sarathambal funeral held". Tamilnet.com. 2007-03-27.
8. "Sri Lanka country report 2000". HRW.org. 2007-03-27.
9. "Sri Lanka monitort:May 2001". Sri Lanka monitor. 2007-03-28.

External links

• Carmelitta by Derechos net
• Amnesty International Report on Rape in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka: gang-rape and killing of 29 year old mother by soldiers

• Tamil Sri Lankans
• Sri Lankan murder victims
• Rape victims
• Sri Lankan Hindus