Krishanti Kumaraswamy

Krishanti Kumaraswamy, also spelled Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, was a minority Tamil girl in Sri Lanka who was raped and murdered in 7 August 1996 by 6 Sri Lankan Army soldiers; the effort to bring her assailants to justice became a cause celebre as a part of the protest against atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan Army during the Sri Lanka civil war.

Incident

On August 7, 1996 Krishanthy Kumaraswamy went missing on her way home after sitting her GCE Advanced Level examination which equivalent to grade 12 in many countries at Chundikuli Girls High School. She was last seen alive at 11.30 am at Kaithady Army checkpoint in Jaffna.

Her mother Rassammah, brother Pranavan (Age 16), and family friend Mr. Kirupakaran (Age 35) became concerned and went in search of Krishanthy. They were also murdered.

According to pro-rebel Tamilnet Forty five days later, the bodies of the four were later found in shallow graves within the army base. A three quarter width rope was found tied round the neck of mother Rassammah’s corpse. Mr Kirupakaran too appeared to have been strangled in the same manner since the rope was wound tightly round his body. The bodies of Krishanthy and her brother Pranavan were cut in several pieces and haphazardly wrapped in black colored sheets.

Later investigations revealed that she was abducted by five soldiers and another six gang raped and killed her at the...
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