The Sexual Harassment (Mental) case filed against Dian Gomes the current President of the Sri Lanka Boxing Association by Thampu Nelka Shiromala, a Sri Lanka Chief Police Inspector and reputed Olympic female boxing referee and judge was taken up at the Magistrates Court number 6 in Colombo last Wednesday.
This unique Sexual Harassment (Mental) case, perhaps the first of its kind reported in Sri Lanka was mysteriously closed by the Women and Child Protection Bureau in June 2023 and then reopened on the 20th of November 2023.
The complainant – Police Chief Inspector Nelka Shiromala
The complaint bearing reference number CIB V 28/20 was initially filed at the Head Office of the Women and Child Protection Bureau on the 11th of January 2023 and also at the Colombo Magistrates Court under case reference number B 84590.
The victim, after lodging her complaint was sent to meet the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. Ajith Tennakoon, who then directed her to consult Dr. Neil Fernando the Judicial Psychiatric Head of the Kotelawala Defense Academy for his assessment.
It is reliably understood that Dr. Neil Fernando after consulting the victim had sent his Medical Assessment Report back to the JMO Dr. Ajith Tennakoon, who subsequently filed it at the Magistrates Court.
Meanwhile, many eyebrows were raised when this case was initially closed by the investigating team led by S.S.P Budhhika Manatunga (a lawyer himself), as those responsible in doing so were in blatant violation of section 120(3) of the country’s Penal Code.
The violation is that it is illegal for the police to close a case when a specialized piece of evidence such as a JMO’s Medical Report is already submitted to court.
Perhaps that is the plausible reason as to why the newly appointed Director of the Women and Child Protection Bureau had recalled the case on the 20th of November 2023, in order to submit further reports regarding this complaint to court.
When the case was taken up in Court yesterday, the Magistrate instructed the Officer in Charge of the Women and Child Protection Bureau to obtain and submit the Attorney General’s reference number regarding this matter, when court convenes again on the 21st of March 2024.
Was S.S.P Buddhika Manatunga rewarded for attempting to cover up and prematurely closing the case?
The initial closure of this case by S.S.P Manatunga had all the hallmarks of the police attempting to cover up a high-profile individual, with even the media maintaining a sense of darkness.
It is a commonly known fact that Dian Gomes shares close ties with the media and has always maintained friendly ties with them.
Despite being a lawyer himself, was S.S.P Buddhika Manatunga ignorant of the country’s Penal Code? or on the other hand was he ordered to do so by those in higher authority such as the now retired Inspector General of Police C.D. Wickramaratne who was in service then and or the current Member of Parliament Tiran Alles (Minister of Public Security), who are personally known to Gomes?
Meanwhile it is interesting to note, that almost immediately after closing the case and providing Dian Gomes a letter of clearance, S.S.P Buddhika Manatunga was transferred to oversee the entire Kantale Division. This appointment and transfer were viewed by many police personnel as a promotion due to the magnitude of responsibilities this transfer entailed.
In the meantime, there was just one local Sri Lankan newspaper, The Daily Morning that published a headline story in its sports page, giving prominence to this case. But strangely, in less than 24 hours after publication, the management of the newspaper removed the link of their published story online, no sooner the story started to gather momentum on several social media platforms.
Even the above published story link by The Daily Morning was removed from the website on the instructions of the management of the newspaper.
S.S.P. Manatunga provides letter and statement to a foreign media website
Barely six days after closing the case, a popular sports website named Inside The Games published an article on the 21st of June 2023 titled “Exclusive: IBA director cleared of sexual harassment claims by referee after police investigation”.
Strangely the said published article went on to state that S.S.P Manatunga had provided them a letter stating that Dian Gomes was cleared of all charges.
It also went on to publish a quote provided by S.S.P. Manatunga, despite him not being the official Police Spokesman.
Geoff Berkeley, the Inside The Games Journalist went on to state, quote -“insidethegames has obtained a letter from Buddhika Manatunga, director of the Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Children and Women, issued to Gomes confirming that he has been cleared of the allegations.
Following the investigation, the senior superintendent of police said that it had been found that no offences had been substantiated and the matter has now been concluded.”- unquote
It is the duty of the Police to protect its citizens
In this instance, the complainant is a woman and also one of their very own. A woman Chief Inspector who has brought international fame to Sri Lanka as an International Boxing Referee and Judge, who officiated two final bouts at the Tokyo 2022 Olympic Games.
Incidents of this nature could not only happen to the complainant, but it could happen to any woman in Sri Lanka too.
If a person such as her is unable to receive due protection from the Police, then where does the average Sri Lankan woman, be it grandmother, mother, wife, sister or friend stand a chance, where women are harassed and humiliated day in and day out and that too quite blatantly and when in the public eye.
