His name is Kamaleswaran

Justice Denied to Survivors of the Kumarapuram Massacre

Featured image courtesy Shehan Peruma

Shoot me but, please dont kill my children, pleaded
Kanthappoody Kamaladevi with her arms outstretched over her
head, just before she was shot dead outside her home in
Kumarapuram, Killiveddy, by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).

L-R (first row): Alakuthurai Parameshwari, Ananthan

Annamam, Arumaiththurau Vallippillai, Arumaithura
Thanaledsumi, Kanthappodi Kamalathevi
L-R: (second row): Pakkiyarasa Vasanthini, Ramajeyam
Kamaleshwaran, Rasenthiram Karunakaran, Sanmuganathan
Nithanthan, Sellaththurai Pakkiyarasa
L-R: (third row): Sivakolunthu Sinnaththurai, Vadivel
Nadarasa, Vinayagamoorthi Suthakaran, Thangavel
Kalathevi, Kanagarasa Subathirasa
MARISA DE SILVA on 02/11/2017

February 11th, 2017, marks the 21st year

commemoration of the brutal Kumarapuram massacre of 26 Tamil
villagers, by army personnel belonging to the 58th and Dehiwatte
Camps, and the Kiliveddy check point. Of those killed, six were
women, five men and 13 children (below the age of 18). Also
amongst those killed was 1 pregnant mother and a 15 year old
girl, who was allegedly gang-raped by a group of army personnel
before she was killed. Twenty six other villagers were also
severely injured.
It was about 5pm on the 11th of February, 1996, when villagers
had heard gun-shots approaching their homes in Kumarapuram.
At first we werent afraid, because at a meeting with the military
a few days before, they had told us not to worry if we heard gun
shots, that they were shooting at birds, so to just stay put, and
that no harm would come to us, said Kanthappoody Piraparani
(36). When the shooting sounds had started to get closer, her
mother had shouted to her to run inside their house, where other
villagers too had sought refuge. When they had peeped through a
crack in the wall, they had seen a large group of army personnel
in uniform coming towards their home. When the army had
shouted from outside their house for them to come outside,
Piraparanis mother had run out to try and save the lives of her
children. After killing her mother, the army opened fire at their
house and injured many of those inside, including a 1 year old
infant.
My husband had just returned from work, and I was preparing
him tea, when a well-known army officer from the nearby camp
by the name of Corporal Kapila, and another officer, called for my
husband from outside our house. As my husband was a carpenter,
Kapila would often come and get things repaired, or made by him,
so we knew him well, said Thankavel Maruthayi (71). When she
went outside and asked them why they were calling for her
husband, they shouted at her and opened fire at the house. Her
husband who was inside, got shot and succumbed to his injuries
about 15 days later whilst in hospital. Many others hiding in her
house too were injured, whilst a father and 10 year old were also
shot and killed on the spot, she recalled.
Arasaratham Nagarasa, a daily-wage earner, had returned from
working on the fields, and gone for his bath near the 58th mile
post, when he heard gun shots coming from his village. He had
promptly run home and found his house full of other villagers. He
was told later that there had been about 18 people taking shelter
in his home. We continued to hear gun-shots pelting down like
rain, and so we were all terrified to step outside. Through a crack
in the wall we saw four army personnel come towards our house.
When they got to our house, they shouted from outside para
demalu[1][2], eliyata wareng! (*expletive (refer footnote) Tamils,
get out here now!) When none of them went outside, the military
shot through the house wall which was made of tin sheets. A
bullet went through my left eye and out the right. My neighbours
tried to take me to the nearby dispensary, but, while going, we
heard shooting again, so we ran into another nearby house. There
I heard that my wife and son had been shot, but, as I was in and
out of consciousness at the time, I didnt fully understand what
they were telling me, he reminisced.
I heard shooting from about 1km away, but, as we heard
shooting often, I didnt take too much notice at the time. When
the sound of shooting seemed to be getting closer, I ran to a
nearby house. The military came outside the house and shouted
at us to come outside. When none of us did, they kicked open the
door and opened fire on us. A woman was shot dead, my husband
was shot in the stomach and another was badly injured. By the
time they came back to check, we all lay motionless on the
ground, so they would assume that we too were dead, said
Nadarasa Thavamani (50) of her horrifying experience.
Thavamanis brother ran a shop by the road. When the people in
the shop were told to run, her brother ran to her house with his
children. My husband who lay on the floor bleeding from his
stomach, pleaded with my brother to take him to hospital and
save him. As there was still shooting outside, my brother couldnt
take him. My husband died two hours later, she recalled with a
glazed look in her eyes.
Arumaiththurai Puwendini (who was only 3 in 96,) and her elder
sister Priya, (7 at the time), shared their devastating story of how
their pregnant mother was killed. When the soldiers had broken
down their house door and opened fire, their mother had stood up
with Puwendini in her arms. Our mother who was 9 months
pregnant at the time, was shot in the stomach and killed, and my
sister who was in her arms, had her two toes and part of her foot
blown off. Seven villagers were killed in the room we were hiding
in; our pregnant mother and her sister, three neighbourhood
children and their mother, and another young boy. Only my sister,
brother and I survived, but, the shooting permanently mutilated
my sisters foot and my brothers leg, which was split open from
the knee downward along the bone, said Priya angrily. Doctors
have said that I need to undergo a heart bypass surgery, but, we
barely have enough money to survive, so how can we afford a
surgery, added Priya hopelessly.
However, many of the villagers spoke well of one particular
soldier named Corporal Kumara, who was also one of the eight
indicted, who they claimed had helped save the lives of many
villagers. For instance, when Corporal Kapila (another soldier),
had pulled out a dagger to kill a woman, Kumara had pulled him
back, resulting in his dagger breaking through a mirror hanging on
the wall. At that point a shot had been fired through a hole in the
wall, killing an 11 year old girl on the spot.
Kumara had also told the villagers at courts, how he witnessed
the gang-rape of the 15 year old girl by a group of military
personnel. He added that by the time they were done with her,
she had been barely alive, so he had shot and killed her as he
couldnt bear to see her that way. The villagers had found her
body the following morning.
An old man, Kannaiah Ramajeyam, waited silently in the circle of
villagers around us, each chipping in with bits and pieces of their
horror story. After everyone had finished speaking and were
picking up their chairs and returning home, he approached me
and said in a quiet voice, I had gone to work outside the village
that day, and when I returned home, chaos had broken out here.
My son hadnt returned home from my brothers place yet, so I
went in search of him. When I got to my brothers house, I saw my
son and brother lying dead in the fields. They had both been
killed. My son was just 11 years old. His name was Kamaleswaran.
Please write down his name. His name is Kamaleswaran.
Civil Society and Local Groups support
The Young Mens Hindu Association (YMHA) gave 126 villagers
fleeing Kumarapuram soon after the attack, food and refuge at
the Navarathnam Hall in Trincomalee. Members of the YMHA
came under heavy surveillance and intimidation by the military to
make the villagers return to their homes. Regardless, the YMHA
sheltered the villagers until they felt safe to return to their village.
Other local civil society (CS) groups too, at much security risk to
themselves, supported the villagers in their long struggle,
including providing transport and related expenses for court
hearings, and sustain the advocacy campaign over the decades.
Further, local CS groups, also helped locate families in response to
the court summons and coordinate their logistics and expenses
related to the courts hearings etc., The Centre for Human Rights
Development (CHRD) has provided legal assistance to the
villagers over the years.
Twenty year-long struggle: Court Case details and update
The Kumarapuram Massacre court case which has been dragged
on for 20 years now, has been riddled with challenges right
throughout, starting from the three-day long identification parade
of over 500 soldiers, to the Accused being out on bail within the
first few hearings, the alleged destruction of material evidence in
a fire[3], an all Sinhala jury being appointed and the case being
shifted to the Sinhala majority town of Anuradhapura.
The road between the 58th mile post and Serunuwara was
cordoned off by the military from 5pm till later the following day,
with nobody being permitted to enter or leave the village. We
heard shooting from 5pm till about 3am the next day, many of
the villagers said.
On the following day (12) morning, the Muttur police had come
and seen all the dead bodies and injured. Soon after, at about
8am, the military arrived at the scene, and took all the injured in
a bus to the Serunuwara Hospital and from there to the
Trincomalee Hospital. The military also loaded all the dead bodies
into a tractor and armoured vehicle, and transported them to the
Muttur Hospital. The families of those killed, also followed by a
bus provided by the army, to the Muttur Hospital.
The villagers had been familiar with many of the soldiers from the
nearby camps and check points, as they would have to go help
clean out the camps and chop firewood for the military, weekly.
We would see and hear them call out to each other by name, so
we also learnt some of their names, they said. Soldiers would
also ask for corn and manioc from the villagers when passing by.
We would give them whatever they wanted as we were scared of
them, said the villagers.
Three days after the attack, villagers were asked to come to the
Muttur Court to identify the perpetrators. About 500 army
personnel wearing caps, were paraded before the villagers, over
the course of 3 days, with the perpetrators dispersed individually
across the large group. The villagers had asked for their caps to
be removed when on parade. Thereafter, the villagers were able
to identify 8 soldiers from the 58th and Dehiwatta camps and the
Killiveddy check point. I walked up to one soldier, grabbed his
arm and identified him as having killed my mother. The judge
ordered that I be remanded till the end of the hearing because I
grabbed the soldier by the hand. They killed our family and
friends, is there no punishment for that? questioned Piraparani
angrily.
I have gone to courts in Muttur, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura
over 25 times over the past 20 years, said Thavamani.
In July, 2016, the Court summoned 108 villagers to give evidence,
but, only 27 were located and able to make it. All 8 soldiers were
indicted and released on bail within the first few hearings of the
case, and were all suspended from duty following their
indictment. This case is particularly noteworthy because the
Attorney General had filed 101 separate indictments against each
of these former Army personnel, in the Anuradhapura HC, making
it the longest list of indictments submitted against any
defendants in a criminal case, in the history of the Anuradhapura
HC. There were 121 witnesses in this Case.[4]
On July 27th, 2016, 20 years following the massacre, the
remaining six (as two died whilst out on bail), former soldiers
were acquitted, and exonerated of all charges, by an all-Sinhala
jury at the Anuradhapura High Court.
Soon after the acquittal, the victims families appealed[5] to the
President to direct the Attorney General (AG) to appeal against
the judgement and re-try the Accused before a Trial-at-Bar, and to
take steps to grant a comprehensive compensation scheme to the
families of the victims.
Since then, the AG has appealed to the Court of Appeal against
the Anuradhapura High Court (HC) Jury decision to exonerate and
acquit the 6 former soldiers of all charges. While the plaintiff has
proved beyond reasonable doubt that the Defendants were guilty
of the accusations against them, the Anuradhapura High Court
Jury verdict, exonerating them of all wrongdoing and releasing
them, is complete injustice to the victims,[6] the appeal stated.
Three Presidents have come and gone in the last 20 years, the
perpetrators have been released, but, were still awaiting justice.
Even the Yahapalanaya government hasnt done anything for us.
We doubt they even know what has happened to us. We want
justice for our family and friends who were killed, and
compensation for their families, and those wounded, said the
families adamantly.
L-R: (first row) A. Puwanendinis mutilated foot, Arasarathnam
Nagarasa, Arumaiththurai Priya, Family member awaiting
justice. (Second row) Kanthappoody Piraparani, Nadarasa
Thavamani, Permanently scarred, Thankavel Maruthayi
UPDATED: Photos from the Kumarapuram memorial, held
February 11, 2017, sent in by the author
Victim Names
1. Subbaiya Sethurasa
2. Alukurasa Parameshwari
3. Arukaiththurai Vallippillai
4. Kidnan Kovinthan
5. Arunasalam Thankavel
6. Sellaththurai Pakkiyarasa
7. Vadivel Nadarasa
8. Rasenthiram Karunakaran
9. Sanmuganathan Nithanthan
10. Ramajeyam Kamaleshwaran
11. Kanthappoody Kamaladevi
12. Sivakkolunthu Sinnaththurai
13. Sivapakkiyam Nisanthan
14. Pakkiyarasa Vasanthini
 15. Amirthalingam Rajanikanthy
16. Thankavel Kaladevi
17. Steepan Pathmini
18. Suntharalingam Prapakaran
19. Suntharalingam Subajini
20. Kanakarasa Suvathirasa
21. Subramaniyam Pakkiyam
22. Vinayagamoorthi Suthakaran
23. Ananthan Annamma
24. Vijayakanth Ledsumi
25. Arumaiththurai Thanaledsumi
26. Unknown, as family is missing.

[1] Originating from the word pariah.

[2] A pejorative/derogatory term used to identify ethnic Tamils.
The word has very negative connotations, and implies being an
inferior alien/outsider.
[3] TamilNet, Kumarapuram massacre case exhibits destroyed in
fire https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=15154
[4] Ceylon Today, Acquittal of six soldiers in Kumarapuram
massacre case AG appeals Apura HC jury
decision http://www.ceylontoday.lk/print20161101CT20161231.p
hp?id=8507
[5] Kumarapuram Massacre Appeal https://cl.ly/gqDe
[6] Ceylon Today, Acquittal of six soldiers in Kumarapuram
massacre case AG appeals Apura HC jury
decision http://www.ceylontoday.lk/print20161101CT20161231.p
hp?id=8507
Posted by Thavam