Love affair ends in suicides and arrests

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A love affair ended in the suicide of a Tamil girl and a Sri Lankan soldier this morning in Velanai in Jaffna.

A Tamil boy loved a Tamil girl. Both were from Velanai. The parents of the boy strongly objected to the affair as the girl was from a different caste. As their objections were not taken note of by the young lovers, they decided on another course of action to separate their son from the girl.

The parents of the boy had very close connections with the local Sri Lankan army camp.

They informed soldiers and junior officers known to them that the girl was earlier involved as an activist with the Liberation Tigers and that she should be warned to keep away from their son.

The girl was taken to the army camp in public yesterday and was severely warned and castigated by the soldiers who have close connections with the boy's family.

The girl came back and committed suicide this morning by drowning herself in a well.

The father immediately took up the matter with the higher officers in the camp.

A soldier who was involved in taking the girl to the camp and threatening her shot himself to death upon hearing that the she had committed suicide.

Why he did so is not clear as yet say residents. The boy, two civilians and five soldiers were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan police today in connection with girls death.