Protest Against Jaffna Bishop

A mass protest was held opposite Jaffna Bishop’s Rt. Rev. Thomas Savuntharanayagam’s house in Jaffna city yesterday, by those mourning the death of a young Catholic woman, who committed suicide by jumping into a well at Gurunagar on Monday, 14 April. The crowd, mourning the death of 22-year-old, Jerome Consolita, shouted slogans seeking justice from the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Savuntharanayagam, pro-LTTE anti-Sri Lankan campaigner, claiming the girl had committed suicide due to depression after she had been sexually abused by a Catholic priest attached to Bishop’s House in Jaffna.

Police intervened to calm the mourners who were furious over the death. According to the mourners, Consolita was a student at the Institute of Catholicism at Gurunagar and she had allegedly been sexually harassed constantly by a Catholic priest serving at the institute. 

According to a relative of the deceased, the Catholic priest had been passing remarks at the young woman all the time and had even insisted that she marry him. The relative also said that he had even sent her abusive short messages to her mobile phone. The relative added, the deceased was in a depressed state of mind for several days before she committed suicide.

The body of the woman was taken from the Jaffna Hospital to her native place Mandaitheevu for burial yesterday.

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