Jaffna business man beaten by army

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 1998, 20:49 GMT]
The owner of a video rental store in Jaffna town was severely assaulted by SLA soldiers in front of crowds at the Sivan 'Kovil' (temple) junction army sentry today for declining to lend them a video player (VCR).

Murukaiah Sriskandarajah, 26, owner of Lakshan Video on Kasturiyar road in Jaffna town had refused to give one of his VCRs to three unknown SLA soldiers who had demanded it free of charge from him yesterday.

The soldiers had come drunk to his store later and had assaulted him grievously.

Today the soldiers had come to the store again and had forcibly dragged him to the Sivan 'Kovil' junction where Sriskandarajah was made to stand on a barrel while he was mercilessly beaten up by them.

He was kicked about, as he writhed in pain, when he fell from the barrel, unable to stand the beatings any longer said his friends.

Later this afternoon, the video store owner was admitted to the Jaffna hospital with severe bruises and contusions.