Cops rescue 8yr-old Lankan girl from captivity

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have rescued an eight-year-old Sri Lankan girl who was apparently being held against her will in a house in Puchong here late Sunday.
MIC Youth coordinator T. Mohan said the girl, Salomia Prem Kumar, was rescued after vital information was provided by a 14-year-old Sri Lankan boy who was also rescued last week.

He said the girl was supposed to be reunited with her aunt in Paris but was instead brought to Malaysia in May last year.

Mohan said the boy, Dilruckshan -- who was reunited with his grandmother S. Pushparatnam last week -- had provided the information to MIC Youth recruitment and membership committee chairman G. Kumar who had then relayed it to the police to take the necessary action.

He said Salomia was under the care of a Malaysian woman, Santhi, who had also looked after Dilruckshan for the past eight months.

Police had detained Santhi and her brother-in-law when they rescued Dilruckshan last week.

Mohan said Salomia had claimed that she had been beaten up and asked to do housework as well as the laundry during her captivity.

“We believed she was not given enough food and had also been threatened by the woman,” he said.

He said that both Salomia and Dilruckshan were sent for a medical check-up at a government hospital and were confirmed to be in good health.

Mohan said the girl’s mother, S. Thangamalar, had made arrangments to send her only child to her sister who is living in Paris through a travel agent in Colombo but the girl was instead sent to Malaysia.

“We are not sure whether Thangamalar is aware that her daughter is in Malaysia. We are making arrangements to contact her in Colombo,” Mohan said.

The girl’s father Prem Kumar had died several years ago.

Mohan said the two children were being put up in an orphanage and would be looked after by the MIC Youth until they obtain the emergency travel certificate from the Sri Lanka High Commission for them to return.

He said that MIC Youth was sadden that there were Malaysian Indians who had resorted to “milking” money from people who were suffering due to the internal strife in Sri Lanka.

“We hope the police will take stringent action against them if they are found to have done wrong,” he said.

thestar.com