How child in Puttalam disappeared ....

The incident of a three year old girl disappearing in Pahariya area, Karuwalagaswewa, Puttalam last

On the day in question the Karuwalagaswewa Police together with people in the area launched a massive search operation starting from Tabbowa Reserve and were finally able to find the child; it is not still clear how it happened. It is a 3 year old girl by the name of K.H. Dinithi Ahinsa resident at Pahariya area, Karuwalagaswewa who had so disappeared. Parents of the child had reported to Karuwalagaswewa Police that the said child who was supposed to have been playing in the house had all of a sudden disappeared on 29th evening. Subsequently though a team of police officers of Karuwalagaswewa Police together with the villagers had launched a massive operation to search for the missing child, neither the police nor the villagers were successful in finding the child.

Later the parents of the child had taken steps to visit a holy place situated in Pahariya area and so seek the services of a light-reader in which instance the exorcist in the devala having gone through the process of light-reading had told the parents that the missing child staying inside a historical cave in Tabbowa Sanctuary, is quite safe and sound. Subsequently the parents of the child had got together with the villagers and the police and once again resolved to start a search inside the ancient cave in Tabbowa Sanctuary moving as far as 30 miles away from near the missing child's home and thus had engaged in an extensive search- operation combing the jungle.

The police officers who had joined in this search were successful enough to get at the girl when she was found all alone at about 3 in the morning on the 30th. After the child was found subsequent to a search which continued for a period close upon 15 hours she was brought back to her home and then in order to examine her mental condition the child has currently been transferred to Colombo Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital from Puttalam Base Hospital to which she was initially admitted.

On an inquiry made by us concerning the incident, what police officers said was that they believe that this child who was missing may have gone into the jungles after being controlled by some power or some agitation. What the hospital Director Dr. Sumith Atthanayaka mentioned was that the child was directed to an examination of the Judicial Medical Officer of the hospital and that there was no evidence of the girl having been subjected to sexual or any other form of abuse. However it is reported that the child has been directed to the examination of the hospital doctor specialising in mental ailments and on that occasion the child had not been in a sound state and because her health condition had begun to deteriorate, steps were being taken to direct her to several check ups by the Lady Ridgeway Hospital.

The girl happens to be the youngest child in the family. The mother is a housewife while the father is a fisherman. She has two elder sisters. The child who was at her father's elder sister's house close to her home is supposed to have at once come out of the house and travelled a distance of about 500 metres along the road lying opposite the house. Some female villagers in the vicinity after having noticed the child had handed her over to her father's elder sister. The mother of the child had said that when she was engaged in cooking meals in the evening-time the child had been meddling with and breaking up some string beans. After the child was found missing a villager in the company of another had gone to Pahariya Devala to make a search on the child. "When we went to the devala the meniyo said that the child is in the jungle and that it was already too late and to hurry up and that only females should go to the place. Meniyo then gave a chanted lime and a coconut. She also asked male-folk to go behind them for security purposes of those females, the villager said.

Accordingly about 50 males and females in the village having divided themselves into four groups had gone in search of the child. A number of villagers had observed footprints of the missing girl across the sandy plain at various points in the Reserve. However as the child could not be found even after proceeding about 5 kilometres into Pahariya jungle, the villagers had then conveyed a message to the devala. At that point they were told that the child was close to a rocky plain. Since the girl was not to be found, one group had stayed back in the jungle while the other group had retreated to their homes with the idea of returning the following morning and searching for the child.

The crowd after travelling about 10 kilometres had come across a rocky plain and a certain woman had loudly uttered "puthe" when the girl had responded saying "amme" and then emerged from a thicket. The time had been around 3, early in the morning. The villagers expressed that the girl had faced no hazard. The villagers say that it was an area where elephants used to roam in plenty. "We can't think of this incident. What we think is that the girl had vanished because of some unseen power. The missing girl's father said that they were now in deep fear. Even the girl's mother is very much frightened. "The child went back home with me. Suddenly she vanished. After that we searched for her. Can't think how this happened," the girl's mother said.

The fact that the child had gone a distance of 10 kilometres all alone has given rise to suspicion and investigations are proceeding in this connection.