Reports have emerged of the detention and torture of Tamil women arrested by Sri Lankan security forces who have accused the women of having 'terrorist links'.

A report, published in Groundviews said:

"Recently there are several females in Boosa. Two of them are above the age of 60. Kanapathipillai Yogarani 61 years of age was arrested in latter part of March. The only allegation against her is that her son residing in a foreign country has been sending her money periodically.

Another lady Selvanayakam Rasamalar 62 years has been arrested in place of her son who is being wanted by security forces. Her maid /attendant by the name Puwanewary Kulasingam 52 years was also arrested with her. Selvanayagam Rasamalar’s son’s name is Kajeepan but the TID is compelling her to admit that her son’s name is Gopi which name is in the wanted list. However, the mother is emphatic that her son’s name is Kajeeban and not Gopi as claimed by TID. Her daughter- in- law Sharmila 26 years old is also kept as a hostage until her husband is arrested. Here again, Sharmila is certain that her husband is Kajeeban and not Gopi.

When Sharmila was arrested on 11.03.2014 at her Trincomalee home she was 4 months pregnant. She already had a delinquent child three and half year old. She was interrogated for almost day and night in TID office in Trincomalee and on 12th morning she was transported by train to Colombo with two plain clothed policemen and two WPC’s in uniform. She was thereafter   taken to the 4th floor and was there 2 nights. On the 2nd day she was taken to the top floor and was shown a window through which she was asked to look and was threatened that she will be pushed down if she didn’t cooperate. She was also taken to a room where about 8-10 men were kept. They had injuries in the face and limbs with blood stains all over the body.

Thereafter she was made to sign a statement written in Sinhala. She does not know a word of Sinhala but after being admonished that she will be pushed down from the multi storied building and having seen severely tortured men, Sharmila had no option but to sign the document. She had earlier signed statements in Trincomalee TID office under similar circumstances. On the 14th March 2014 she suffered an abortion and experienced severe pain and suffering. She did not receive any medical attention.  In spite of all this she was taken to Boosa the same afternoon by train and remanded at Boosa in the night. To this date no medical treatment has been given.

There is another lady Balendiran Jeyakumary who was arrested in Kilinochchi with her 13 years old daughter Vibushika. The daughter is now housed at a children home under the supervision of the Child Probation Department consequent to a Court order. Jeyakumary is held in Boosa detention centre purportedly under detention order. Interrogation still continues and she is continuously questioned about one Gopi whom she is alleged to have harbored in her house and who had escaped after shooting a police officer. Jeyakumary has consistently in maintained that the person who intruded into her house was a stranger and that the security personnel had every opportunity to apprehend him if they wanted to. Forces had surrounded her house and yet they had not apprehended the intruder nor is there any trace of the TID office who is supposed to have been injured by shooting.

There is another lady, Loganathan in Boosa whose husband is tortured in the 2nd / 4th floor in CID / TID controlled premises in Fort, Colombo.

There is a young woman Raveanthiran Vathani who is now a mental wreck who is not given the basic treatment for physical ailment let alone psychiatric care or counselling. This woman had lost her husband and family members her two children are in the care of relatives. She is in dire need of treatment by a psychiatrist as well as a physician both of which the authorities at the detention camp are unwilling to grant.

These women are held in inhuman conditions without the basic facilities and necessary accessories by the unsympathetic officials. The officials seem to be oblivious to the fact that their captives are human beings and are entitled to basic facilities and humane treatment. No sympathy could be expected from the authorities whose mindset is hard, inhuman, and cruel in the treatment of detainees."

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