Page 25 - KDU INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

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

Mother. People having meals at nearby restaurants would feed Rangika
when they saw her crying. Her Mother was arrested for a crime and

Rangika went to prison with her. After some time she was sent to an

orphanage where she was beaten up daily and made to perform acts of
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forced labour. She ran away from every such orphanage only to be
arrested by the Police and brought back. Although she was of school-

going age she hated school because everyone there bullied her because
her Birth Certificate did not have her Father’s name. Each time she was

sent by a court order to a Child Development Centre she ran away and

escaped. A child living under a bridge in the heart of a city is exposed to
many dangers. The general public who had their meals from nearby

hotels had fed the child. One of them could have rung the 1929 hotline
and informed the National Child Protection Authority to provide a safe

space for the victim child.
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This story highlights the very important role the public and the media

have to play in exposing gross human rights violations such as that of

Rangika. So many role players have shirked their functions and
responsibilities in this situation contributing to the violation of a number

of human rights of the vulnerable and marginalized girl. The main
dereliction of duty on the part of the Field Officers who were attached to

the Divisional Secretariats and District Secretariats of the locality where

Rangika lived. This story is a clear illustration that the National Authority
for the Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses cannot function as a

12 See: The Awareness raising booklet written by Monica Nauman MSN, titled ‘Effects of
Institutionalization on children: how Sri Lanka’s dependance on orphanages hurts kids”
13 National Child Protection Authority Act, s 14(k)
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