Legal action contemplated – HR activists

Death of Bathuideen’s maid

BY CYRIL WIMALASURENDRE

KANDY- Rev. Fr. Nandana Manathunga, head of the Human Rights Office of the Kandy Diocese said that they were also contemplating legal action to secure justice for J. Ilashini, the 16 -year-old girl, who died while working at SJB MP Rishad Bathuideen’s residence.

Fr. Manathunga told the media that lawyers attached to the office were preparing to take the case before courts, based on the statements of the parents of the deceased.

Fr. Manathunga said they took up the case of Ilashini at Bathuideen’s house as a serious issue as the MP is a suspect in the Easter Sunday attacks.

“The Catholic community of the country takes this death very seriously. Hence we urge for impartial and undelayed investigation.”

On Wednesday, Rajamanikkam Ranjani, the mother of Ilashini, met Fr. Manatunga and said she was compelled to send her daughter to the MP’s house because she had no way of paying back family debt.

Ranjani said her daughter had started working at the MP’s house at the age of 15.

“My daughter called me several times and said that she was being subjected to torture and that she could not stay there. Her death is suspicious,” Ranjani said.

The girl, who was a resident at Dayagama, in Hatton, was sent to the SJB MP’s house in November 2020.

“There are five girls and a boy in our family. Ilashini was the third. They said they would pay her Rs. 25,000 a month but only Rs. 20,000 was given,” she said.