A 19-year-old youth was arrested on Wednesday evening on suspicion for sexually abusing a Grade 11 schoolgirl of a school in Sri Lanka’s Deep South barely 48 hours after 22 school boys were arrested for gang raping a school from an adjacent area.
The alleged recent incident took place in Kataragama some 278 kilometers from the commercial capital of Colombo.
The incident according to police took place some six months ago.
The girl told police that the suspect was her lover and that he had lured her to a secluded area and undressed her but stopped short of raping her.
Recent reports indicate that teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse cases are on the rise in Sri Lanka , with 28 cases reported during the first half of this year, according to the latest data from the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA).
According to the NCPA, teenage pregnancies often happens due to a direct consequence of sexual abuse and has seen a marked increase with 28 cases reported in the first half of 2024 compared to 18 in the same period of 2023. This statistic is alarming and causes great concern seeing this percentage rise by 55.5 percent.
In tandem with this, reports of rape and grave sexual abuse have also remained persistently high. In 2024 alone, 23 cases of rape have been reported so far, nearly half of the total 50 cases recorded in 2023, suggesting that the year might close with an even higher figure. Additionally, 157 cases of grave sexual abuse were documented in the first six months of 2024, continuing a troubling trend from previous years, the NCPA said.
As the statistics from the NCPA reveal, the situation is becoming increasingly dire. The increase in reported cases of teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse underscores the vulnerability of Sri Lankan youth, particularly girls, who are disproportionately affected by these crimes.
