Police defend against 'stripping' allegations
[21 Mar 2000]

Senior Police Superintendent D.A. de Fonseka last night said that the woman suspect who was alleged to have been stripped in public for security checking purposes had actually undergone a body search carried out by an airwoman at the check point.

  He denied claims that the woman was stripped in the presence of security forces men and civilians.

  The woman suspect had been loitering near the Gangaramaya temple.

  Mr. Fonseka also stated that since the woman wearing a salwar kameez, a dress many women suicide bombers wore, she was asked by the airwoman to just raise the top part of the attire to see whether the suspect was wearing an explosive jacket.  

"Now nobody is talking about the risk the airwoman took in checking a possible suicide cadre," he said after explaining that the security forces and police have been forced to do on the spot checks under very difficult conditions in view of the threat posed by suicide cadres of the LTTE.

Also the check was carried out after she had failed to produce her national identity card and had failed to answer questions. She had stood silently without making any movements which had made the security forces suspicious.  

After the woman was taken into custody she had turned out to be a sex worker who had no permanent abode and had been sleeping in different places.

  The police officials also stated that the security forces did not open fire even after the suspect found near the Muttiah Park failed to produce her national identity card or answer questions and acted very much similar to the Flower Road human bombs.

  LTTE in January said that 74 women had been among 292 cadres who carried out suicide attacks upto December 31, 1998. Since then many more suicide attacks had been mounted by women including the December 18 strike on the PA's final presidential election campaign rally.

  "The security forces had been accused in all these instances for their lack of security checks on civilians. Now you know why we cannot do our job properly, the public and the media must understand such issues," police authorities said.

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