Protest against rape, murder of Tamil woman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 01:12 GMT]
Hundreds of people Friday held a protest march in Vavuniya town demanding immediate inquiry into the mysterious killing of Lucia Aurampillai, 42, after sexual assault by unidentified persons. The protest march commenced Friday morning from Sivan temple at Kovilkulam and arrived at the Vavuniya district secretariat. Women organizations, non-governmental institutions and the people of the area organized the protest campaign.

Ms. Aurampillai of Kallundankulam, a border village in the Vavuniya district, left her home on October 22 taking her cattle for grazing. Next day her body was found in the shrub jungle near the Sri Lanka Army camp at Iratperiyakulam. Postmortem examination revealed that she had been raped and murdered by strangulation.

The leaders of the protest march on reaching Irambaikulam handed over a memorandum to the officer-in-charge of the Vavuniya Human Rights Commission and to the Vavuniya Government Agent at the district secretariat.

The memorandum addressed to the Defence Minister, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, requested that immediate inquiry be held into the rape and killing of the said woman and to bring the culprit to book. The memorandum said people of Vavuniya severely condemn the killing of a Tamil woman at a time when peaceful environment prevails in the island.

Following the incident, Kallundankulam School remained closed as parents have refused to send their children due to fear, NGO sources said.