A female student currently undergoing
Leadership Training at Air Force Camp in Diyatalawa had complained that she had
been bitten by Bed bugs while given to sleep on a rubber mattress.
She has told to organizers that she had been
bitten by bugs and couldn't sleep on a rubber mattress. They didn't respond to
her request.
Next day organizers had given her a coir
mattress with bugs to sleep on. The second day too she had not been able to
have any sleep. There had been very visible red scars on her body as a result
of been bitten by bugs. The officers to whom she complained had not bothered to
listen to her grievances. As an alternative she had phoned her parents who had
brought this matter to the notice of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka army denied reports that a female
student had been hospitalized after being allegedly subjected to harassment at
the Sri Lanka Air Force Training Centre, Diyatalawa.
According to the Sri Lankan Army spokesman
Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, “During the interview the said student has
informed the following difficulties that she is faced with. She has to work
according to a time schedule and has to wait for everyone in the daily routine,
which according to her is an inconvenience. She has a rash in her foot and
hence unable to wear shoes. The commanding officer has then asked whether there
has been any harassment and the student has assured that there had been none
whatsoever,” the Army Spokesman said.
Then the Commanding Officer had explained that when one works in a team one has
to do things together as a team and for that one may have to wait for others to
gather. “On the matter of not being able to wear shoes, she has been
excused from wearing them until a rash that she was diagnosed with is cured,”
he said.
