Page 24 - KDU INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

KDU International Journal of Criminal Justice (KDUIJCJ)
Volume I | Issue II| July 2024

child development centres on the faces of children in need of care and
protection. Therefore, Geeta who was determined not to go home to her

abusive Father was without a roof over her head. Clearly, she was a victim

of child trafficking. Trafficking of Children is an offence under 360© of the
Penal Code of Sri Lanka. It is clear from the story narrated by Geeta that

all the elements of child trafficking are satisfied. Geeta has been a victim

of the Penal Code offences of cruelty and sexual harassment at almost
every workplace she was employed at. Again, there were no avenues of

reporting this crime open to this child victim. She had to ‘grin and bear’

and suffer in silence.

The Judge who removed the child from the shelter she had happily settled
in after hearing one side of the story and sent her to a Remand Home. This

was despite presenting a detailed report of the all-rounded Education the

victim was receiving and highlighting the calming environment she was
living in. The child was last seen looking horrified when she was put into

a cell at the entrance of the court house and boarded into a Prison’s

Department bus. The Probation Officer opposed the child being sent to
the shelter on the basis that the Probation Department license had only

been applied for and not granted yet. This was due to the dereliction of
duty by the Department of Probation and the child had to suffer the

consequences. Her education was disrupted for the 2 time. Clearly, the
nd
Judge and the Probation Department and Child Care were not acting in
the best interest of the child. The child faced revictimization over and over

again. The third narrator is teenage girl who had lived beneath the

poverty line. Rangika had been living under a bridge in a big city with her

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