Rape by Indian forces
Rape by Indian forces
Rape of Tamil women by the Indian forces during this period was widespread. It was so widespread that one Indian military leader stationed in Jaffna had to tell civilians who went to him with complaints of rape that they should not bring such complaints to him but only bring complaints if his forces shoot someone. So widespread was rape that the military leaders were forced to tell the civilians not to treat rape as a serious crime.
Many Tamil physicians working in the Tamil homeland during this period treated hundreds of young victims of rape by the Indian forces. Rajini Thinaragama a University Teacher and a social activist who was later murdered also wrote in detail about rape by Indian forces. Rape by Indian forces had been the subject of reports by Amnesty International. Both local and international media of this period were full of reports of rape crimes committed by the Indian forces.
Due to heightened fear of rape during this period, the recruitment of young women into the armed Tamil militant movements increased dramatically. Many of these young women cited rape of friends and neighbours by the Indian forces as their motivation for joining the armed movements. Anthropologist would say that this decision by a young woman made her shed her status as a potential victim and take on an empowered role in the community.
Statistics A vast collection of documentation of rape during this period had been collated by Tamil activists. Documented evidence of more than 60 individual incidents of rapes committed between October 1987 and June 1988 had survived. Some of this documentation is accompanied by medical evidence. Almost 350 women and girls had suffered rape in these collated incidents. The ages of women range from as young as 14 to 45, and includes pregnant women. Almost half of the cases involved girls under the age of 18. The majority of rape incidents took place in Jaffna district, with the next highest number of rape incidents in Batticaloa district. Women from Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Trincomalee also suffered rape at the hands of the Indian forces. Due to the sensitive nature of this crime in Tamil culture, a large number of cases have not been documented. However, the documentation of eye witness accounts and affidavits portray the characteristics and nature of rape as a systematic form of violence used by the Indian forces.
Common characteristics of rape by Indian forces As the rape cases show, rape was committed in a repeated fashion and was a shared practice among Indian forces. In many of the documented cases, women were raped in their own homes and in other cases the Indian forces abducted women and raped them in army camps or deserted areas. Soldiers stationed at camps or checkpoints along roads and intersections would go to residential areas and enter the homes. Two or more soldiers would assault members of the family and then rape or sexually abuse the women and girls. Afterwards they would pillage the home, taking the family’s personal belongings or valuables. In some cases the women were killed after being raped.
On 2 January 1988 in Punnalaidduvan in Jaffna district, three members of the Indian forces entered the home of Moothathamby Kanageswary. They harassed and sexually abused her and then looted her home. In the same town, three other soldiers entered Mr. Nagammuthu Saravanai’s house and tried to molest his daughters.
On 17 November 1987 in Kondavil West in Jaffna district, two members of the Indian forces stationed at the junction of K.K.S. Road and Muthaddu Madam Lane entered the home S. Satkunathevy and raped her. They also tied up her husband and assaulted him. On 26 November 1987 a group of soldiers entered the home of G. Selvanayagam and raped her. These two cases describe the common method of gaining forced entry into homes and raping.
On 21 November 1987 in Uduvil, in Jaffna district, several women were taken to the Uduvil army camp and were raped by soldiers there.
On 17 October 1987 in Urumpirai, Jaffna in Jaffna district, 30 girls were abducted by the Indian forces and were believed to have been raped.
On 20 October 1987 a mother and her daughter were raped in Manipay, Jaffna.
A Tamil physician working in Vadamaradchi until 1989 treated several victims of rape by the Indian forces. From the stories she heard, women were attacked during military search operations where soldiers would round up male members of households, leaving women and girls in the home. Other members of the Indian forces would then enter the homes and rape women and girls. In one particular case three sisters, ages 8, 10 and 12, were sexually abused by the soldiers. During examination, the physician discovered bite marks around the girls’ breasts.
This physician had treated the victims of rape for their physical trauma, psychological scars as well as sexually transmitted deceases. Women were also faced with pregnancy as a result of the rape. The physician said these physical traumas were easy to treat but it was much harder to treat their psychological trauma. Most of the women the physician saw suffered from guilt, expressing that they believed it was their fault. It was a struggle for the physician to draw her patients out of this mindset.
Responses of rape survivors and their communities Tamil women who survive rape or their families do not usually report the incidents because of the social stigma attached to women who were raped.
Despite this belief, some rape cases were reported and families demonstrated ways in coping with the harshness of these attacks.
In April 1988 in Iranamadu in Kilinochchi and Visavamadu in Mullaithivu, six women were raped. Upon hearing of the news neighbours and people in the area stayed indoors and closed shops and businesses on April 10 and 11. This action was not only a sign of protest, but also a time for families to lament the suffering of the women who were brutally attacked.
On 30 November 1987, a statement released by 47 citizens of Kondavil West, in Jaffna district expressed, “These incidents have driven fear into the minds of the people of the area and some of them are fleeing. When we returned to our house in the hope of living in security we are being harassed by Peace Keeping Personnel.”
Responses of authorities
The Indian forces and Sri Lankan government authorities’ response to cases of rape was either denial or minimization of the rape. These tactics were not only used to evade responsibility and justice, but also to further ingrain the sense of lost hope and dignity within the Tamil psyche. The actual act of rape was immensely damaging to the women and their community, but the further denial and minimization intensified the collective trauma of Tamils.
On 21 November 1987 several women were raped by the Indian forces in the Uduvil army camp. Later parents of the raped women and girls went to the authorities to report the incident. The authorities told them, “Rape is a very common occurrence, don’t come here to complain about it, if a person had been shot dead, of course we are ready to take note of it.” This response sought to minimize the rape by categorizing it as a “common occurrence”, decreasing the seriousness of the crime and human rights violation.
A document submitted by the Sri Thurkka Community Centre of Punnalaikadduvan North on 2 January 1988 was signed by 60 residents of the village. The document outlined the atrocities committed by the Indian forces, including a report about many of the girls in the village who were raped and molested.
The Jaffna Headquarters of the Indian forces denied reports in the media that soldiers were raping Tamil women. They described the report as “slanderous, vicious and mischievous, designed to arouse the passions of the gullible.” They further stated,
“The respect and reverence for women is a precious part of the Indian culture and psyche; it is inconceivable that the Indian soldiers, who have always shown great respect towards all Sri Lankan Tamil men, women and children, can ever commit such a heinous crime.”
Clearly, the Indians were using the “Indian culture’s respect for women” to bluntly deny the act of rape by its soldiers.
CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS Number 13 – Point Pedro – Thikkam massacre 16 Sept 1984 The date of the incident is 2 September 1984 as reproted in the UK Foreign Ministry’s declassified document below.
Number 37 – Vankalai church massacre 06 Jan1986 : The year of the incident is 1984 and not 1986. Number 95 – Kumarapuram massacre 11 Feb 1996 The victim list had been missed in the English version but was included in the Tamil version.
Ramajeyampillai Kamaleswaran, Student, 14, Rasenthiram Karunakaran, – – Kanagarasa Sabapathirasa, Farmer, 16 Kiddinan Govinthan, – -Pakiarasa Vasanthi – – Thankavel Kaladevi, Student, 11 Ananthan Annamma, – , 28 Amirthalingma Rajnikanth – – Alahuthurai Parameswari, – 27 Arumaithurai Vallipppillai – – Arumathurai Thanaladchumi, Student, 16 Arunasalam Kamaladevi –
Arunasalam Thangavel – – Somu Annaladchumi – – Sellathurai Pakiarasa, Labourer, 26 Suntharalingam Pirapaharan, -, 13 Suntharalingam Subashini, Student, 4 Subramanium Pakkiam – – Subbaih Sethurasa, Labourer, 72 Sivakolunthu Sinnathurai, Farmer, 58 Sivapakkiyam Prasanthini – – Shanmuganathan Nithakaran, Studen, 11 Vadivel Nadarasa, Labourer, 27 Vinayagamoorthy Suthakaran, Student, 13
0 Comments