The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentences imposed on four men, including the principal accused known as ‘Swiss Kumar’, for the abduction, gang rape and murder of 18-year-old Jaffna schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vidya in 2015.
The verdict was delivered by a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, dismissing appeals by the convicts seeking acquittal. The court ordered the acquittal of two other accused in the same case. Three of the four men whose sentences were confirmed appeared via Zoom from prison at the time the order was read.
Vidya was abducted while returning from school in the Punkuduthivu area of the Jaffna District on 13 May 2015. Her killing triggered nationwide outrage and prompted one of the largest criminal investigations Sri Lanka’s justice system has handled.
The Attorney General filed indictments against Swiss Kumar and a group of co-accused before a three-judge Trial-at-Bar of the Jaffna High Court. In September 2017, that bench sentenced seven men to death after finding them guilty. The convicts then appealed to the Supreme Court seeking acquittal. One accused died during the hearing of the appeals, leaving six whose cases were ruled on this week.
The decade-long legal process closes one of the most closely watched human-rights cases in the post-war North. The verdict was delivered while the Supreme Court is also under intense political scrutiny over opposition warnings about executive encroachment on the judiciary ahead of a separate, unrelated 25 May court ruling.
Sources: Ada Derana, Newswire.
