Female Jaffna University student strangled to death, as TID summons three more

A female student of the Jaffna University has reportedly been found strangled to death at her house in Chunnakam under mysterious circumstances on Friday (14), as three more female students have been summoned to report immediately to the Jaffna police amid mounting tension and fears in the war-ravaged northern peninsula.

According to news sources in Jaffna, 21-year old Fine Arts Faculty student identified as Nadarasa Kiyani was found dead with the bed sheet tightly wrapped around her neck at her house at Iyanar road Kantharodai, Chunnakam, when the parents returned home from routine shopping in Chunnakam town, located five miles north of Jaffna town.

The parents have said that she was studying at her desk when they left home.

The autopsy report of the deceased, however, has declared that the death was due to heart attack, a latest report from Jaffna said.

More students summoned

Meanwhile, the dreaded Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka police on Thursday evening has summoned three female students of the Jaffna University, including the Girls Hostel Students’ Union President, to report immediately to the Jaffna police station.

The fate of these three female students is not immediately known. 

The summoning of the three female students has come amid reports that the police and the military were visiting the houses, private boarding places of many University students, looking for detailed information about their activities and other students. 

'University administration uninformed'

A police team has visited the house of university student in Mullaitivu and conducted inquiries. This has been without the prior permission or knowledge of the university administration.
The University Administration said that they did not have the exact details of how many students have been summoned or in the wanted list “because the police have started summoning and interrogating students directly without informing the University Administration”.

“Reports of students being directly summoned is a cause for serious concern, given the fact that four of our students were detained at the Welikanda Military Detention Camp. This is for the first time that female students have been summoned by the TID. The police action has ridiculously reduced the university administration to a mere puppet,” an Academic source told the JDS via phone from Jaffna.

24 year-old Medical Faculty student Darshananth of Kantharmadam, Arts Faculty Union President Kanakasundaraswami Jenamejeyan (24) of Puthukkudiyiruppu, Science Faculty Union member Shanmugam Solomon (24) of Jaffna were arrested along with Students’ Union leader V. Bavanandan on December 29 and 30 by the Sri Lankan police in Jaffna and later taken away to Vavuniya by its Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).

Boycott continues

They are now being kept at the Welikanda Military Detention Camp under the provisions of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).   

The parents along with top three University lecturers, were allowed visited the students at Welikanda on Wednesday for two hours.

The Jaffna university students are boycotting their academic activities for the past two weeks, demanding the early release of their fellow students.

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