Occupation Student Religion Hindu | Name Krishanti Kumaraswamy | |
Born 1977 Jaffna, Sri Lanka Parent(s) Rassammah and Kumarswamy Died August 7, 1996, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Similar People S Sivamaharajah, Sarojini Yogeswaran, Alfred Duraiappah | ||
Education Chundikuli Girls' College | ||
Krishanti Kumaraswamy (Tamil: கிருஷாந்தி குமாரசுவாமி), also spelled Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, was a minority Tamil girl in Sri Lanka who was raped and murdered on 7 August 1996 by 6 Sri Lankan Army soldiers; the effort to bring her assailants to justice became a cause célèbre as a part of the protest against atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan Army during the Sri Lanka civil war.
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Incident
On August 7, 1996 Krishanthy Kumaraswamy went missing on her way home after sitting her GCE Advanced Level examination, equivalent to grade 12 in many countries, at Chundikuli Girls High School. She was last seen alive at 11.30 am at Kaithady Army checkpoint in Jaffna.
Her mother Rassammah, brother Pranavan (Age 16), and family friend Mr. Kirupakaran (Age 35) became concerned and went in search of Krishanthy. They were also murdered.
According to pro-rebel Tamilnet Forty five days later, the bodies of the four were later found in shallow graves within the army base. A three quarter width rope was found tied round the neck of mother Rassammah’s corpse. Mr Kirupakaran too appeared to have been strangled in the same manner since the rope was wound tightly round his body. The bodies of Krishanthy and her brother Pranavan were cut in several pieces and haphazardly wrapped in black colored sheets.
Later investigations revealed that she was abducted by five soldiers and another six gang raped and killed her at the checkpoint.
Government investigation
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations like Women for Peace launched a sustained campaign to pressure the Sri Lankan government to arrest and prosecute the soldiers. Six soldiers who were directly involved in the raping were sentenced to death by the court of the government of Sri Lanka.
In the court case about her rape and murder one of the accused informed the state about an alleged mass grave known as Chemmani mass graves that was investigated to contain 15 bodies.
Related to incident
According to pro-rebel Tamilnet, a local activist who worked to expose her case was killed by unknown gunmen on February 1, 2007.