Police in Galle have arrested four members of the same family — including two women — over the alleged assault of a 16-year-old boy from Dandeniyakanda, Beralapanathara, who had earlier been arrested in connection with a theft complaint made by the same family, Newswire reported.
The arrests on Wednesday followed Facebook footage that circulated on social media showing the teenager being beaten. The suspects, all residents of Milidduwa in Galle, are a 40-year-old woman who had filed the original theft complaint, her 47-year-old husband and their 19-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter.
The teenager’s mother lodged a complaint alleging that the family who reported the theft had then subjected him to an inhuman assault, Police said, adding that the viral video was used as evidence during the probe. The 16-year-old was produced before Galle Magistrate’s Court on June 3 over the theft allegation and is now receiving treatment at Karapitiya Hospital under prison custody, the news agency reported.
The four suspects are due to be produced before Galle Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, with further investigations underway into both the theft case and the assault.
The case is one of several recent incidents in which viral video footage on social media has led to police action. Seven students in Vavuniya were remanded in June after footage of an assault circulated online, while a similar viral-video assault case in Gokarella in April resulted in nine arrests.
