Kidnapping is any illegal capture or detention by any strangers for criminal & mischievous purposes. In criminal laws, kidnapping means taking away or the asportation of a person against the person’s will. Child abduction has become a public and a social issue that has captured the attention of many in the last 2 decades. Vivid accounts of child abduction are portrayed in the media, particularly of high-profile stranger abductions. Such over-representation triggers fear in almost all parents; most often, this fear is disproportionate to the actual risk. Most would agree that child abduction is one of the more stressful types of criminal victimization.
What are the types of kidnapping?
Child kidnappings fall into three general types: those are, abductions by parents or family members; stranger abductions by men for monetary ransom or physical exploitation and abuse; Children abducted by women who intend to keep and raise them as their own.
There are two types of kidnappers. One is the person who tries to get money from it. They know parents will do anything to get their children back, also some of them earn money by stealing and selling the organs of the body. The other is for sexual gratification. They kidnap the young kids to sexually abuse them.
Why do children get kidnapped?
IN NIGERIA
Children are kidnapped mostly by their nannies – a group of people working for a syndicate portraying themselves as nannies to accomplish their duty. Most of the time, they are kidnapped and sold to people who have the need to have children. Nigeria does not have an adoption agency, so people buy children. I hate to use the word “buy” but that is what happens. In fact, there are many baby factories for that purpose, what makes it different is that these women are kept pregnant with the sole purpose of selling their babies because they are poor and need money.
IN MOST SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES
For child abuse; they are kidnapped by beggars and gangs. They demand money from the family of the kids. They even sell kids to groups that abuse children. There are people with disorders who seek happiness by abusing children as well.
Why are they being kidnapped in Sri Lanka?
The main reason for the rise in child abductions in Sri Lanka is the lack of attention of the parents towards their child; Unlike the days of the past, nowadays both parents are busy with their day-to-day work especially since both parents are in most instances employed.
The other is, that nowadays children are being kidnapped for their economic issues. Because in present, in Sri Lanka people are suffering without their essential needs. Also, earning money is the very hardest thing, even if they are well educated. So, this problem turned into another one as “CHILDREN KIDNAPPING”. Current kidnap cases are the best examples of it. Especially, Fathima Aysha’s incident.
Kidnap cases in Sri Lanka
So the very important reason for releasing my article is Fathima Aysha’s kidnap & murder case. The body of Fathima Aysha, a 9-year-old, fourth-grade student of Al Gazzali School in the Alutgama area in Bandaragama has been found, the police said. The child had gone missing at around 10.15 am on the 27th of May 2022 after visiting a shop about 200 meters from her house to buy chicken. It is understood that the murder could have been personal enmity due to unfair practices. Her body was found in a marshland. The mother of the girl had lodged a missing person complaint with the Bandaragama Police station after the girl failed to return home from the shop. Several police teams had commenced investigations in search of the girl following the complaint. Police were in search of the girl following the complaint. Police said K-9 officer ‘Druno’ of Habarana. Police deployed to trace the missing child-directed the officers to the meat shop and didn’t proceed further.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer said that the father of the child was also being questioned by the Bandaragama Police, the Panadura Divisional Crime Branch and the intelligence Officers are also conducting joint investigations into the disappearance and death of the girl, said SSP Wedgen in charge of the Panadura Division. Just a 9-year-old girl, full of kinder wishes and playful mind, with innocent and cutest eyes. One dark day demolished her and her mother’s growing world. That girl just went to the shop to buy meat. But some animal humans finally made her into meat finally.
What was her fault? Being innocent? Her death horrified the whole country. Sri Lankans are roaming for justice yet.
Although Sri Lanka’s past incident shows another reason for child kidnapping, that is sexual abuse. The rape and murder of Sivaloganathan Vidya, which took place in 2015, briefly revealed it. May 13th, 2015 – Vidya has been reported as missing. At 7.30 am Sivaloganathan Vidya leaves home for school. At 3.00 pm Vidya has not reached home yet so far brother goes to school to check. He is told that she didn’t attend school on that day. Around 6.00 pm Vidya’s family filed a report with police saying she is missing from 11.00 pm following hours of waiting police finally lodged the family’s complaint of missing Vidya. On May 14th 2015, Police officers and Vidya’s family members started searching for her. Finally, on May 15th,2017 Vidya’s body was laid to rest. Three suspects were arrested. Also on May 20th,2015 Eight suspects were brought to Jaffna Courts. Over one hundred protestors among many, who demanded the suspect be handed over to them, were arrested. Still, the case is going on. An 18 years old girl showed promise and carried high expectations of her parents, guardians & teachers for her academic career. Vidya was aspiring to become a teacher herself, or even enter the field of media. But in the end, her damaged dead body came to the media.
What did she do to those monsters? Being a daughter or Being a daughter of a single parent? What is the fact of her death?
So and still there are many incidents which are called ‘SRI LANKA’S KIDNAP CULTURE’
On August 7th 1996, Krishanti went missing on her way home after sitting for her GCE Advanced Level Chemistry examination at Chudikuli Girls High School. She was last seen alive at 11.30 am at the Kaithady Army checkpoint in Jaffna. She had been detained while cycling back home passed by had seen they informed her mother. Mother Rasamma, and brothers Pranavan & Krishanti were cut into pieces. It was then known that Krishanti was raped by 6 Army soldiers.
On 25th January 2016, Tharshan was playing with his brother in the neighborhood. However, as the brother had gone to a nearby shop the little boy had been playing alone in a puddle near his house and his father had been observing. After some time the boy had gone missing, and his mother had searched for the missing child until 5.30 pm, on that day. As the child wasn’t found Tharshan’s mother Kuguthas Jeyavani reported the child was missing to the Sampoor police. The villagers joined the police in search and spotted the little one’s body inside a dilapidated well in the near vicinity. Tharshan had been brutally raped and murdered via drowning. A 3kg rock was wrapped around the boy in the process.
Susith Nirmal, a resident of Samidugama in Iranwila, was reported missing on Sunday 25th. His naked body was later recovered from a jungle in the Iranwila area in Chilaw, on February 27, 2018. The autopsy revealed that the child was brutally raped for hours whilst semen of the perpetrator was found inside the body, signs of an iron rod being used in rape activity were highlighted and his death was caused due to the use of heavy force on his head.
Seya Sadawmi was last seen around 8.30 pm 12 September 2015. According to her parents, she was sleeping with her mother at the time, and her father was not home. When he returned home and asked where the girl was, her mother told him that she might have gone to sleep in her grandmother’s bed. But she wasn’t there, so she was reported missing the next morning and the Kotadeniyawa police called in for an investigation. The Police K9 unit & the CID later joined the search. It was reported that her clothes were found on the bed where she slept, which rendered the K9 unit unable to trace her scent. The police speculated that she may have been abducted while sleeping with the mother. In the evening Sadawmi’s body was found near a canal 200 meters from her home. According to news reports, the body was naked and a piece of cloth was wrapped around the neck.
Malki Sandamali was kidnapped on the way back to her home post-school hours. She was abducted, brutally raped many times, tortured and murdered. Her lifeless body was found in the Yalawela Mahiyanganaya jungle. The perpetrator was under the influence of Ganja. Ganja consumption remains a vital case of rape.
Recently, a woman’s lover who raped her 15-year-old daughter was taken into custody by the Buttala police on 5th June 2022. Police said after the victim’s father deserted the family, her mother had been living with another individual from the area and he had raped the girl for several days she was found pregnant. The girl who complained of a stomach ache had been taken to a doctor who examined her to find her pregnant. She was referred to the JMO for further medical examination. The 44-year-old suspect is to be produced before the Wellawaya magistrate.
On the 7th of June 2022, Two teens, a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old girl, were reported missing in Akkaraipattu after leaving home to collect firewood.
A 13-year-old school girl in Ethimale Police area in Monaragala who complained of a stomach ache was examined by a doctor to find her conceived. Ethimale police conducted investigations upon an alert by the hospital authorities that said that she had been continually raped by her grandfather, her uncle (mother’s brother) and her elder brother. She was referred to JMO Monaragala hospital for medical examination. Police arrested the girl’s brother and investigations are underway to arrest her grandfather and uncle.
THESE ARE JUST 0.1% OF DUST FROM THE RAPE CULTURE,
It is believed that there’s an average of 4 rapes per day in Sri Lanka by 2015 (reported cases). Areas such as Jaffna, Gomarankadawala, and Batticaloa are the topmost rape and murder sites of SL, these rapes are mostly unreported crimes on neglected post reporting.
- Section 364(2)e- Sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 years would be RAPE.
- Section 78/79- In a case of murder, if an accused person raises the plea of drunkenness under section 79, the burden is on the accused to prove on a balance of probability that he had reached the state of intoxication in which he couldn’t have formed a murderous intention. For further civil aspects of child abduction. Read here, https://www.lawnet.gov.lk/civil-aspects-of-international-child-abduction-3/
So, parents need to educate their kids about thinking logically, In order to do, so, kids must be taught that questioning, reasoning, and criticizing are good requirements to stay safe. They have to stay aware of the surrounding issues and keep alert.
For example, teach the kids about strangers and common lures used by kidnappers such as giving sweets to seduce them and many more. Other than that, Parents should also listen to their kids’ problems. Ask if they have questions, and listen carefully to their answers. Parents have to put themselves into their children’s shoes. Moreover, it is essential to know where the kids are going, who is with them and when they return home.
90% OF THE TIME THE KIDNAPPER OR RAPIST IS NOT A STRANGER. IT’S EITHER YOUR MOST TRUSTED FRIENDS or RELATIVES.
JUSTICE FOR RAPE AND MURDER IN SRILANKA REMAINS A JOKE.
