At a time when women and children are subjected to violence in the digital as well as physical environment females in uniform have a major role to play in protecting them. Here female officers of the Navy Women are seen participating at the International Women’s Day celebrations held at Nalanda College recently 
(Pictures by Waruna Wanniarachchi)

In a world painted with vibrant strokes of significance, Women’s Day emerges as a radiant sunbeam, into the spirit of every woman. Women’s Day was named as a special day to develop a society with an emotional heart towards women. On March 8, International Women’s Day was celebrated at Nalanda College under the theme ‘A Strong Woman contributes to developing a country.’ The programme was conducted with the sponsorship of the travel company, ‘Pick Me’ with support from People’s Bank and the Community Police Division. The programme was launched to make women more aware of the prevailing and new laws published to protect them. Women from the Sri Lanka Navy, Army, Air Force and community Police participated in the programme. Female nurses representing the hospitals and female drivers representing Pick Me participated in the programme.

 “Children and women are subjected to domestic violence. In 2023, 136,221 complaints connected to domestic violence were filed,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police Renuka Jayasundara. She also said that due to the involvement of technology some women and children are subjected to violence in the digital environment too. In public places and places of occupation, women are subject to harassment. “Lots of domestic cases were reported on sexual harassment.

Nowadays sexual bribery has become a common fact in society,” said Jayasundara. “32 people were arrested for harassing women in public within a month. The 109 service is introduced to complain about any harassment on children or women. A new email address and a Whatsapp number were introduced to file cases regarding women harassment,” said Jayasundara. She said that more information on this matter can be obtained by logging on to [email protected] or by calling 0718595843. Both these options are available 24/7 with only women police employed to provide this service. She stated that in 2022, 59 people had died due to domestic violence. 2005 Act No. 34 was in effect to avoid domestic violence and she said that this act has helped them to decrease the number of deaths due to harassment by 2023.

A retired senior policewoman Pramila Diwakara received a token of appreciation from IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon. Diwakara was the first Sri Lankan Woman SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police). She was trained at the Police Training School at Kalutara for six months in 1958. There were 13 girls in the batch and it was the fifth batch of WPCs in Sri Lanka. She had a work experience spanning for 43 long years. She became a Sergeant in 1971, Sub Inspector in 1971, Inspector in 1984, Chief Inspector in 1986, Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1988, Superintendent of Police in 1994 and Senior Superintendent of Police in 1999.

“When a sexual assault takes place police have the power to arrest the offender without a warrant and the individual can be subjected to a 5-year imprisonment,” said the Chief Inspector of Police at Sri Lanka Police Manoj Samarasekara. He drew examples from the Sigiriya frescos to show the value of women. He discussed the arrival of Sangamittta Their as a powerful role to represent the courage and the importance of women.

For the record, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been quoted in the media saying that according to the Act for Empowerment of Women, a separate commission is expected to be established and it aims to make arrangements for the advancement and empowerment of women by introducing the mechanism to protect women’s rights subject to the provisions of the Constitution. Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe had further said that gender-based budgeting will also be introduced in the future, and it will be done for the first time in Asia.

“Sri Lankan women are facing difficulties inside homes and also in the society and more than 5000 complaints are received from women and teenage girls annually,” said Inspector General of Police (DIG), Deshabandu Tennakoon. He added that most teenage girls are subjected to abuse inside their houses by their relatives and some commit suicide or become helpless when facing the consequences. He added that not only at homes, but when using public transport and common places women are exposed to abuse. “The culture of Sri Lanka shows that people were used to respecting and treating women as their sisters and mothers. But at present that society has been blown away like a cyclone.

Mothers are in homes for the elders where they are left by their children. Domestic violence has increased. With the advanced digital devices, people are corrupted and use females to fulfill their wants,” underscored DIG Tennakoon. He stated that women are regarded as items in today’s corrupted society. DIG Tennakoon explained that Sri Lanka Police will always protect women and as a whole protect the females within the Sri Lanka Police. The female employees of the police were praised for sacrificing their teenage years while serving the police. Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Mahesh Senarathna in charge of Community Police, Tourism and Investments, DIG Roshan Dias, Director Community Police and Senior Superintendent Police D.K.Priyantha offered a token of appreciation to DIG Tennakoon.

“Some of the places of accommodation for police women do not have even the minimum facilities. Before the next International Women’s Day, I will take action to facilitate those dwellings” promised DIG Tennakoon. “Women constantly face annoying situations due to liquor and drug addiction. Domestic violence has occurred in households due to their husband’s or children’s addiction to drugs and liquor. ‘Yukthiya’ is a process, operated throughout the country to stop such violence,” said DIG Tennakoon. He stated that in some houses both the mother and the father are drug addicts and this easily made their children use drugs and become addicts. A new operation has begun to avoid harassment of women in public. “Police will be in civvies, observing people who harass females in public. Necessary actions will be taken against their behaviours. This operation is conducted twice a week by all police stations,” said DIG Tennakoon. Due to these sexual assaults, many teenagers suffer from teenage pregnancy and their infants are becoming helpless.