A special Police operation is to be conducted in the Western Province (WP) from today to trace children under the age of 16 who have been employed as domestic workers.
Police spokesman SDIG Ajith Rohana said the special operation headed by the Police Children and Women Bureau will focus special attention on the Colombo District.
He further said the Police have received information on the employment of children under the age of 16 from various areas.
The employment of underage children and subjecting them to various inhumane acts, such as sexual abuse and physical assault is a punishable offence under the Penal Code of Sri Lanka, he said.
SDIG Rohana said legal action will be initiated against house owners who have employed children under the age of 16 as domestic workers.
Action will also be taken against the brokers or agents who provide such underage children for employment as domestic workers, he added.
The special operation is being launched after a 16-year-old female domestic worker died while being employed at former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen’s Colombo residence.
The child had died after being admitted to the Colombo National Hospital with severe burn injuries. However, the post-mortem report had revealed that the girl from Diyagama had been sexually abused over a long period of time.
Investigations conducted by the Police in this regard found that another girl who had also been employed at the same residence prior to the victim, had also been sexually abused by the brother-in-law of MP Bathiudeen.
The wife of MP Bathiudeen, his father-in-law, brother-in-law, and the broker who had brought the 16-year-old girl for employment have been remanded after being produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday. (NewsWire)