By Ananth Palakidnar
The schoolgirl Vithya Sivaloganathan murder Trial-at-Bar verdict came in for the praise by the law abiding citizens of the Jaffna Peninsula and the country at large. Seven of the accused were convicted for conspiracy, abduction, rape and murder and were sentenced to death.
The verdict and handing down of the death sentence was given by the three-Judge Trial-at-Bar Bench, which comprised High Court Judges Balendran Sasi Mahendran, Manickavasagar Illanchelian and Annalingam Premshankar.
This was the first ever Trial-at-Bar to be held in Jaffna and it lasted five months from May this year.
It was significant in many ways as it highlighted the dignity of the judiciary of the country tormented by three decades of separatist war.
During the proceedings, Judge Illanchelian agreeing with the other two Judges took a firm stand and maintained that 18-year-old schoolgirl Vithya Sivaloganathan was abducted, raped and murdered in a conspiracy hatched by Mahalingam Sasikumar alias Swiss Kumar.
While praising Inspector Nishantha Silva, of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), for meticulously carrying out the investigation, Judge Illanchelian lambasted the Police over the manner in which they conducted the preliminary investigations.
He categorically rejected claims that the Navy and Army were involved in the gruesome crime committed on schoolgirl Vithya.
Judge illanchelian said: “The second accused said that the crime was committed by the Army. The fourth accused said the crime was committed by the Navy. However the crime was not committed by the Navy or the Army. The witnesses Balachandran, Thanuram, and Sathanantharubini have clearly mentioned that they didn’t see Army or Navy personnel at the crime scene. But they said they only saw the accused.So it is clear that the accused attempted to divert the entire investigation by putting the blame on the Army and Navy”.
Judge Illanchelian also mentioned about State Minister Maheswaran’s involvement in releasing Swiss Kumar when he was caught by the public when attempting to escape from the scene.
He said State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran was not the only one, even former Dean of the Colombo Law Faculty V. T. Thamilmaran, had been involved in the Swiss Kumar issue.
According to Judge Illanchelian, Swiss Kumar had mentioned in Court that Vijayakala had released him from the people who had caught and assaulted him.
“Swiss Kumar had also mentioned that Vijayakala Maheswaran was at the scene, where he was nabbed by the people, between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. The Court was told that it was he who had brought Swiss Kumar to the Jaffna Police station and it was there that the Police had messed up the arrest of Swiss Kumar and enabled him to escape from Jaffna to Colombo where he was rearrested on 19 May 2015 ” Illanchelian said.
At the end of the lengthy main judgments being read out by the President of the Bench, Balendran Sasi Mahendran, with Judges M. Illanchelian and Annalingam Premshankar agreeing, the death sentence was handed down to seven of the nine accused who were each asked why they should not be punished for the gruesome murder they committed.
All seven convicts denied their involvement in the gruesome murder of Vithya Sivaloganathan and said that all charges were deliberately framed against them.
Swiss Kumar, the prime accused, had requested the Court to find out the real people who had committed the crime on that particular day by using satellite data. Meanwhile, Swiss Kumar’s brother, Mahalingam Sasitharan, the fourth accused said: “My mother was arrested soon after the death of Vithya saying that she had threatened Vithya’s mother. She was remanded and she died in the prison. Our house in Punkuduthivu was also set on fire. I have children and I am innocent”.
Swiss Kumar and Sasitharan are brothers and following the death of their mother in remand they were taken hand cuffed to attend the funeral in Punkuduthivu.
Courtesy:Ceylon Today