Homagama Police has arrested 7 youths including 05 schoolboys for gangraping a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

One of the schoolboys is said to be the boyfriend of the girl.

Suspects were arrested over a complaint filed by the parents of the victim who had accompanied her to the police station.

The victim was subjected to a medical examination after being admitted to the Homagama Base Hospital.

It is reported that the girl had gone to meet her boyfriend after claiming that she was going to attend a tuition class. The boy had taken her to a friend’s house in the Magammana area in Homagama.

Police say that the victim was taken to 03 more houses from 09.00am – 03.00pm that day and was subjected to serious sexual abuse by the boyfriend and his friends.

All the schoolboys arrested are residents of Homagama and are attending schools in the area. They are aged between 15 – 16 years. The other suspects are aged between 17- 19 years, police say.

A bike used by the suspects has also been seized.

All 07 suspects are to be produced before the Homagama Magistrate Court today (April 04).

Two persons including the convenor of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) – Madushan Chandrajith have been granted bail,

They were arrested and remanded for staging a protest demonstration in front of the Health Ministry, defying a court order.

The duo was each released on two surety bails of Rs. 1 million each after being produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court.

The Court of Appeal has ordered the relevant Returning Officers to re-accept nearly 37 rejected nomination papers submitted by candidates to contest for several Local Government (LG) institutions islandwide.

This order was issued by the two-member Appeals Court bench comprising the Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar and Justice K.P. Fernando after considering writ petitions filed by several political parties and independent groups challenging the rejection of their nomination papers submitted to contest the upcoming LG Polls.