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Prison inmates thrash suspects in Indian woman's rape case

Three suspects involved in the abduction, rape and murder of an Indian woman have been admitted to hospital after they were severely assaulted by other inmates of the remand prison in Colombo on Wednesday, officials said today.

Police officials said one of the suspects had his leg fractured and the other two also sustained serious injuries in the attack.

The three suspects, known bad characters, had abducted newly married Rita Jones after attacking her Sri Lankan husband, Jude Manoharan, with cycle chains while they were taking a stroll on the beach close to their suburban house, just north of the city on the evening of October 12.

Her nude body was found in a muddy hole in the dense thickets close to the beach the next day. The police said the three suspects had confessed to gang-raping her before strangling her to death.

It was her first visit to Sri Lanka after her marriage in September.

The case had evoked a wave of anger and revulsion in the Sri Lankan society, long immunised to violence due to the ongoing ethnic conflict with its daily toll of death and destruction.

Newspapers had condemned her killing and called for urgent action to curb the increasing incidents of crime, while Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasuriya ordered the clearing of the thickets close to the beach, where the incident took place, to make it safe for people.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (crime) H B Kotakedeniya called for reintroduction of death penalty to deal with rapists, while the Sri Lanka Women's Forum organised a protest demonstration against the rape and murder of the Indian and all other incidents of violence against women.

UNI

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