The injustice done to the girl who was summoned to the chamber every 3 days

The dark shadows of an inhumane crime, where innocence was strangled under the guise of a holy robe, are currently severely questioning the conscience of the entire Sri Lankan society.

The incident of Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, who held the chief custodianship of the Atamasthana, a sacred site for Sri Lankan Buddhists, long-term raping an eleven-year-old girl, is not merely an isolated crime. It has now been confirmed as the tragic outcome of a horrific attempt by political power and institutional mechanisms to conceal justice.

Reports by Judicial Medical Officer Chaminda Rajakaruna have confirmed that this unfortunate girl was subjected to unspeakably cruel torture every three days in the dark chambers of the temple. She was so terrified that she couldn't tell anyone about her fate, and her young mind was so helpless that she hid her blood-stained underwear under the ground. Although crime investigators were able to extract biological evidence even from a piece of cloth used by the perpetrator to wash away his sins, the fact that her own mother sacrificed this innocent child for a sum of one hundred thousand rupees is a severe disgrace to the entire society.

The way law enforcement agencies in the country behaved in the face of this tragedy is even more astonishing. Despite a warrant being issued for the arrest of the suspect monk, its execution was deliberately delayed for seventeen days, during which time the suspect was allowed to act as he pleased. He then attempted to hide in a luxurious private hospital in Colombo by feigning illness, but a panel of six government specialist doctors exposed his act as a sham. Finally, the Anuradhapura Magistrate's Court decided to grant bail to the suspect on two personal bonds of five million rupees each and a travel ban.

The greatest tragedy here is the silence of feminist organizations and female politicians, who loudly advocate for marginalized people and women, in the face of this heinous crime. In a context where even the Attorney General's Department did not represent the aggrieved party, there was a serious risk of this helpless girl being denied justice amidst money, power, and the arguments of senior lawyers.

However, under the guidance of the Director of Law Enforcement at the National Child Protection Authority, a group of male lawyers, including Senior Counsel Asitha Siriwardhana, who voluntarily came forward without any personal gain, stood like a formidable wall against this injustice. They showed the whole world that when a system completely malfunctions and stinks, the fragrant flowers of justice bloom from the most unexpected places.