Five individuals have been remanded after being arrested over alleged assaults on children at the Kappetipola certified boys’ school in the Welimada area, police said on Thursday.
According to Newswire, four staff members — a supervisory officer, a cook, an electrical technician and a masonry instructor who provided vocational guidance to the children — were initially detained by Welimada Police on April 30 over allegations of beating students with sticks and poles. NewsFirst reported that five suspects were ultimately produced before the Welimada Magistrate’s Court and remanded for 14 days.
The school is operated to rehabilitate children aged between 13 and 18 who have been found guilty of various offences. NewsFirst reported that the victims are aged between 12 and 18.
Investigators began their probe after a group of children at the facility reported the alleged abuse via telephone hotline. Newswire said the complaint was made to the National Child Protection Authority, while NewsFirst cited the 119 emergency line. Officers from the Bandarawela Police Division Child Protection Unit, provincial child protection officers and Welimada Police carried out an inspection at the school and recorded statements from students before making the arrests.
Police told NewsFirst the children had been assaulted with rods and sticks by employees of the centre.
The case adds to mounting scrutiny of corporal punishment in Sri Lankan institutional settings, where the National Child Protection Authority has repeatedly warned that physical discipline of children remains widespread despite legal prohibitions.
