An officer but no gentleman

by Amanda Agalakada

Seeking legal redress is a right of any citizen in the country. Law enforcement authorities are bound by law to serve victims who have faced trouble. However, if a victim is hounded by the same law enforcement authorities, it is an even bigger crime. The plight that befell a poor rural woman is ample evidence of this.

Rupika was no ordinary village damsel, but one bestowed with extraordinary beauty and who resembled a goddess in appearance.

Although her outer appearance revealed such a rosy picture, Rupika’s life was one of immense torment and utter suffering which she had to tolerate for years, simply to show the world that her family life was normal.

With the passage of time, cracks began appearing in her family life, which she had painfully staged as normal for the sake of her family. Rupika would not have imagined, even in her wildest dreams that one tragedy would lead to another.

By that time, Rupika had become another victim of a drunken husband, Sumanasena. She suffered immensely at the hands of a monster who was an ardent supporter of Bacchus. He never mended his ways, even for the sake of his family.

His habit of drinking started early in their marriage. At first, it was once in a blue moon. Then, it became a regular feature. Quarrels, brawls, beatings and insults became a normal routine in her life. All avenues to come to a settlement by way of negotiations, even for the sake of their children, were futile.

Silence

She remained silent before her husband’s harassment. Even her neighbours admired her tolerance and discipline. However, she was miserable with her life because she could not realise her dream of a bright future.

It was in this backdrop that Rupika decided to seek police intervention to end the torment that had befallen her. She never imagined that this would be the beginning of another episode of agony that she very much wanted to overcome by seeking legal redress.

Rupika rushed to a police station in the Kurunegala district, which was crowded with people who had come to lodge complaints. She could not cope with the torment inflicted by her husband any longer.

The presence of Rupika at the police station led to the raising of many an eyebrow. The extravagant beauty of this woman mesmerised many of those present. The police officers who were on duty at the time were no exception.

The Crime OIC of the police station who was investigating some complaints too was quite attracted towards the woman although he did not outwardly show it.

Although unaware of why Rupika had come to the police station, the OIC paid his special attention to the woman who had come to the police to lodge a complaint. It was rather delightful to him when he came to know that the complaint was against her husband.

Torment

It was not long before her time to register her complaint came and she sat down in front of the police officer. “I noticed that you have come several times to the police station”, the Crime OIC told Rupika patiently.

“I cannot bear the torment caused by my husband. He consumes liquor all day and assaults me and insults me and my parents”, she told the police officer.

The police officer pretended to be very kind to Rupika, with sinister motives in his mind, and promised to settle her problem promptly. Rupika never imagined that the kindness shown by the officer was the beginning of another round of agony for her.

The intimate friendship shown by the officer gradually changed to a situation where he was allegedly making unwanted approaches towards her. He then started to call her often and make indecent proposals.

The officer had allegedly asked Rupika for sex bribes to promptly solve the problem with her husband.

The trauma became so unbearable that Rupika started to suffer from deep mental depression and had to seek psychiatric treatment. It was here that the facts regarding the OIC and his advances towards her were revealed to the doctors who instructed Rupika to lodge a complaint with the Bribery Commission against the police officer.

The stage was set by the bribery sleuths to apprehend the culprit. Rupika was instructed to pretend to give in to the demands of the officer and go to the place he named. As instructed, Rupika then agreed to go to a guesthouse named by the officer.

The sleuths then set an ambush and instructed Rupika to alert them as soon as the officer attempts to molest her. As instructed, Rupika called the sleuths who nabbed the suspect in the guesthouse room, clad only in a towel.

This was how a police officer who allegedly tried to gain a sexual bribe from a poor hapless woman was nabbed.