A Ratnapura school, destroys the future of a female student on misconceived decision

By Quintus Perera

From Elapatha Ratnapura it is reported that Ratnapura/Elapatha Maha Vidyalaya arrives at a misconceived judgment that a 13 year old female student was subjected to rape and forced the girl to write a statement that she was raped and pregnant. Basing on this forced statement it is alleged that the principal of the school has expelled the girl from the school.

A medical examination on the girl has found that neither the girl was raped nor she is pregnant.

This appears to be a clear case of not only destroying the education of the girl, but also demolition of her entire future with humiliation, vilification and defamation.

It is alleged that the girl was seen talking to a boy under a tree in the forest adjoining her school. On 15 November 2007, during the second period in school, the girl was called by a teacher to the staff room and in the room there were several other teachers.

These teachers crowded around the girl and proceeded to accuse the girl of having a love affair with a boy in the same class which caused humiliation, embarrassment and great discomfort to the girl. These teachers forced questions of the girl being raped by the said boy and they prejudged that she was pregnant and forced her to agree with them. The teachers forced her to proclaim that both were the case. Yet, the girl was deeply distressed, disturbed and upset; she said that she did not understand what the teachers were forcibly suggesting.

It is alleged that two teachers among them had said that they would consult another teacher in the school, and left the staff room. When they returned they continued their questioning, and pressurized the girl to write a letter stating that she had an affair with a boy in the school and the said boy has raped her and is now pregnant.

It is alleged that at that point, the Home Science teacher took her to the Home Science class room where the principle, the girl’s class teacher, a prelate who was a teacher in the school and two other teacher inundated her with a barrage of questions and grilled her as if she was a criminal.

Then it is alleged that two teachers took it upon themselves to again level a series of unwarranted questions for about 15 minutes, causing tremendous embarrassment to the girl, while the girl pleaded that she did not understand most of those questions. It is alleged that then one teacher told her to bring her mother to school the following day. Another teacher was alleged to have suggested bringing her father too.

It is alleged that on November 16, when the girl’s mother came to the school, she was taken to the Home Science class room, to a meeting with the same teachers from the previous day's events. One teacher then told the girl’s mother that her daughter was having a love affair with a boy in the school, that she was raped by the boy in the forest and that she should be taken to a doctor.

It is alleged that the teacher also instructed the mother to lodge a complaint with the Women and Children's Bureau of the Ratnapura Police but not to harm the name of the school. One teacher and the principal both then stated that the girl was no longer welcome at the school and should find another.

The teachers got the mother to sign a statement written in a book, without letting her read its contents, or know what was written. Mother and daughter returned home at about 10:30am.

On November 17, the girl’s mother accordingly took her daughter to make a complaint at the Women and Children's Bureau of the Ratnapura Police station. She told them that the school had asked them to make the complaint. A statement was recorded from both the girl and her mother. They were allegedly asked to sign the statements without having read them or having them explained.

On November 19, the girl went to school to sit for the year end exam, but it is alleged that she was scolded and chased out of the school by the principal. She did not try to return to the school.

Subsequently, on November 24, according to procedure, the girl was accompanied by her mother and a female police officer of the Ratnapura police to Ratnapura General Hospital where she was subject to a medical examination. The doctor who examined the girl declared that she was neither raped nor pregnant.

On 9 January 2008, the girl’s parents then went to her school to request that their daughter be allowed to continue her schooling. The principal however allegedly expressly denied this and issued a leaving certificate against her and her parents' will.

The girl’s father then sent a written complaint, dated 11 January 2008 to the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Inspector General of Police, the Provincial Director of Education Ratnapura, the Director of Education Sabaragamuwa and the Officer-in-Charge of the Child and Woman's Bureau.