Colombo Chief Magistrate Buddhika Sri Ragala has ordered that the three underage girls who returned home after their disappearance be produced before a psychiatric counsellor.
The Chief Magistrate has also ordered the police to obtain a probation report regarding the three girls and present it before the court.
The Keselwatta Police have informed the court that no criminal offence has been revealed during the investigations carried out on the three girls.
Accordingly, the Chief Magistrate decided to close the case. The Keselwatta Police have received a complaint that two sisters and a cousin of the same family who was residing in the Keselwatta Police Division have gone missing.
The three girls had returned to their homes during the investigation.
It was revealed that the three missing girls, aged 13 and 15, had fled the house in search of a suitable place to practice music and Western dance.
They told the police that they did so in the face of strong opposition from their parents, who were passionate about music and western dance.
The mother’s sister and her daughter, who live in Gampola, had come to the house where the mother, father and two daughters live in Keselwatta, Martis Lane, Colombo about a week ago.
However, on the night of the 8th, the three girls aged 13 and 15 and the mother of the girl, a resident of the Keselwatta house, complained with the Keselwatta Police stating that her mobile phone was missing.
She stated that the three girls were in the room at around 7.45 am on the 8th but they were not seen around 8.30.
Police were able to trace the girls carrying three suitcases and walking in the alley where the house was located with CCTV.
The police informed the Colombo Magistrate’s Court about the incident on November 09 and began to analyze the data of the mobile phones taken by the girls.
But the three girls had returned home around 10 pm on November 10th. Fatima Kadira, 13, who lived in the banana house, her 15-year-old sister Fatima Raksha, and her cousin Fatima Warya, 13, who came home from Gampola, also testified.
They said that although they were fond of Korean music and Western dance, it was opposed by adults.
They later told police they had decided to leave home to study music and dance. Accordingly, they had arrived in Pettah, Colombo in a three-wheeler on the morning of the 8th and had found the money they needed by selling a gold ring for Rs. 64,000.
Instead of wearing full-body clothing, they first went to Wattala to buy clothes and find Western music and dance class. Later they had left for Anuradhapura.
A bus driver who was paying attention to the girls said,
“The bus left Colombo at 5.30. The children were dressed in black. I bought a ticket to Anuradhapura. I was told to go to Anuradhapura and return to Colombo. It was late at night and we were asked to board a Colombo bus. A bus coming from Mannar arrived at around 12.30 pm. I went and stopped and put the 3 kids on the bus and got off at Colombo. Told not to drop anywhere else. These are called banana plantations. Then I called the bus. I was told to leave Colombo at around 7.30 in the morning. “
They returned to Colombo and returned to Kandy to find a suitable class. They had returned to Colombo as they could not find a class there and had gone to a lodge for the night. The girls had told the police that they had been refused admission due to lack of national identity cards. The three had returned home around 10 pm.
