Majority of child homicides go unresolved

Sri Lanka Police have solved only 27% of child homicides in 2019 and 2020, according to the Performance Report of the Sri Lanka Police for the year 2020. However, the number of children killed has reduced in 2020 compared to 2019, from 26 to 22, the report said.

The police have categorised rape of girls into three categories; rape with the consent of the victim who is below 16 years, without the consent of the victim who is below 16 years and rape of girls between 16 and 18 years.

Rape of girls below 16 years, with the consent of the victims had increased by 9% in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2019, 1185 such crimes were reported and it rose to 1292 cases in 2020. There was also a 10% increase in rape of children under 16 in 2020 compared to 2019, 315 against 285. However, rape of girls between 16 and 18 have dropped by 29% in 2020, from 72 to 51, according to the police. Solving these crimes have been low as well.

The police also claimed that 632 cases of abduction, which comes under the category of grave crimes against children, were reported in 2020. This is a four percent growth compared to the 606 cases reported in 2019. Police solved 37% of abduction cases. 17 kidnappings were reported in 2020, which is a 32% decline compared to the 25 such cases reported in 2019. Police solved six percent of kidnapping cases.

There has been a five percent decline of cases of cruel treatment against children last year compared to 2019. Police solved 43% of such cases. (RK)