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Lankan court sentences three to death

The Sri Lankan high court today sentenced to death the three men accused in the rape and murder of Indian beautician Rita Manoharan last October.

The 29-year-old Rita Manoharan was abducted, raped and murdered when she went with her Lankan husband Judo Manoharan, a marine engineer, for a stroll along the beach at Crow Island, a suburb of Colombo.

Delivering the judgment in a packed courtroom, the judges also awarded 30 to 40 years imprisonment to the three for abduction, rape, theft of jewellery and murder.

While the first and second accused, Ajit Fernando alias Konda Ajit and Basil Mendis, were awarded 42 years' in prison for various charges, third accused Satinder Kumara Fernando was given 30 years.

Sri Lanka has not carried out any death sentence for the last four decades. This will be the first sentence to be executed after the government reintroduced capital punishment in March.

Manoharan, a marine engineer, met Rita when he was working in Bombay and married her. They were honeymooning in Sri Lanka when the attack occurred.

On October 11, the couple had gone to the beachfront in Colombo. On their way back they took a short cut where they ran into the three accused who allegedly made obscene remarks. One of them then grabbed Rita while the other two overpowered her husband. They then dragged her away into the nearby bushes. Her body was discovered the next day, floating in the water.

Several women's organisations holding placards that read "Sorry, India" had held demonstrations in Sri Lanka after Rita's murder. Social organisations and the media have spotlighted the increasing number of crimes in Sri Lanka, forcing the government to take immediate action.

UNI

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