Wednesday, 06 March 2013

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Kitnasami Rajendran(57) of Udayarkattu North, Udayarkattu in Mullaitivu District was illegally arrested in 2008 and has been detained without trial for more than four years. He was tortured in the custody of the Colombo Criminal Investigation Division and is now detained at the Anuradapura Remand Prison after being produced in the Vavuniya Magistrate’s Court and the Colombo Magistrate’s Court. To-date, Rajendran has never been shown a charge sheet describing his ‘crimes’. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country.

Mr. Kitnasami Rajendran(57) of Udayarkattu North, Udayarkattu in Mullaitivu District was illegally arrested in 2008 and has been detained without trial for more than four years. Rajendran, who is originally from Galle District, was in the business of buying and selling clothes. His business was mainly in the north and therefore he used to go to the area frequently.

In 1981 he bought a piece of land in the Mullaitivu District and 1984 he married Komadi who is from Ratnapura and brought her to Mullative to settle down. They had 3 sons and one daughter. Rajendran used to travel a lot for his business work even during the civil war and had to pass check points maintained by government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) on a regular basis.

On the 7 November 2008 when Rajendran was on the way to the Northern Province for business he was arrested at the Omantha check point by the Sri Lankan Army, and detained at the Army Camp at the area. On the 27 November 2008 he was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and taken to Colombo for questioning.

Rajendran was tortured while in the custody of the CID and forced to admit to charges that were not made clear to him. Later on the 4 December 2009 he was transferred to Boossa Detention Center and from there he was handed over to the police on the 9 December 2009 and produced in Vavuniya Magistrate’s Court and Colombo Magistrate Court.

According to Komadi, Rajendra is accused of having explosives in his possession which he vehemently denies. After Rajendran was arrested his wife Komadi lost two of their sons on 3 February 2009 as a result of a shelling while in their house at Udayakattu. Elder son Vasantha Ruban was 24 and the second Sathya Ruban was just 21.

Vasantha Ruban who was abducted by the LTTE managed to escape and return home when he heard that a shell had stuck the house and Sathya Ruban was injured. Wasantha Ruban was carrying his brother when a second shell stuck and they both died on the spot. The date was 3 February 2009.

As a result of this tragedy Komadi is living with the youngest son who is still schooling and she is without any income. Rajendran is now detained at Anuradapura Remand Prison after being produced in the Vavuniya Magistrate’s Court and the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.

Komadi says that Rajendran is innocent and that he is from Southern Province of Sri Lanka, Galle, and had no connections with the LTTE. Rajendran, who has been detained since 2008, has ever been charged for any crime in the investigation conducted by the authorities.

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 Wednesday, March 06, 2013,

New Delhi: Sharp differences in the UPA over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue came to the fore in Lok Sabha on Wednesday with the DMK accusing the Congress of leaving it in the “lurch” on the emotional issue.

“President’s Address failed to address (the Sri Lankan Tamils) issue. Tamils are weeping. …They (Congress) have left the DMK in the lurch (on the issue),” DMK leader TKS Elangovan said.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his Address, he said India should consider tough actions including economic sanctions against Sri Lanka for violating human rights of ethnic Tamils in the island nation.

“Why can’t we impose economic sanction against Sri Lanka,” Elangovan asked citing similar sanctions faced by India when it experimented atom bomb in Pokhran when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

Elangovan’s speech was disrupted by Congress MPs including Aaroon Rasheed from Tamil Nadu, saying thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils were also killed by LTTE headed by V Prabhakaran.

Irked by the Congress MPs’ allegation, Elangovan asked, “Do you want to take away the legacy of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi” who were sympathetic towards Tamil’s cause.