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Putin’s invasion of Ukraine eclipses Biden’s first State of the Union Speech

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4 years ago

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by Vijaya Chandrasoma

The malevolent Russian invasion against Ukraine has had almost exclusive coverage in international, TV and social media. Though the Ukrainians have been fighting fiercely and bravely, it is only a matter of time before Russia’s superior force will subjugate Kiev, Mariupol and other major Ukrainian cities, many of which have already fallen and millions of innocent civilians, men, women and children, suffering intolerable deprivations.

History shows us that the aggression of nations with superior military force against weaker nations, aggression with motives of self-interest cloaked in sanctimonious hypocrisy, will initially meet with success. But in the fullness of time, they will fail, their greed and cruelty exposed to the world. A weaker nation, with its citizens continuing to fight for independence, its leaders willing to die for freedom, will always succeed. Many will die, incredible privations will be endured maybe for decades. But the ultimate rout of the aggressor is inevitable.

Ukraine and its President have shown this fearlessness in extraordinary abundance. In a recent video address to the British Parliament, exhibiting the epitome of defiance, President Zelensky echoed Winston Churchill’s famous speech at that august chamber on the evacuation of Dunkirk during WWII: We shall fight on the beaches …we shall fight in the fields and in the streets…we shall never surrender. He reiterated the determination of the Ukrainian people “to defend their motherland to the end” as the Russian invasion ends its second week of indiscriminate murder and mayhem. An invasion which has already compelled over two million Ukrainians to seek refuge in neighbouring countries like Poland and rendered at least one million more homeless and destitute. Lives and property destroyed in the most brutal invasion in Europe since WWII.

Zelensky’s inspired address was met with a standing ovation from the MPs and the Lords in the Palace of Westminster.

The vast range of financial and import sanctions imposed by the US and the EU against Russia, including personal sanctions against Putin and his billionaire oligarchs, while “they will damage the Russian economy, will not obliterate it”. Unfortunately, it is also likely that these harsh sanctions will make Putin, who cannot afford to lose this war, double down and escalate the violence against Ukraine, with no concern for civilian casualties. Russian targeting of schools, hospitals and churches, war crimes, have become routine. The more desperate Putin gets, the more likely he will threaten the use of chemical, biological, even nuclear weapons. And he may not be bluffing. His erratic behaviour of the past six months, his delusions of grandeur of regaining the glory of the old Soviet Empire, are causing psychiatric suspicions that he is unhinged and losing his mind.

Another real danger is China’s low-profile endorsement of Russian aggression.

If not for the invasion of Ukraine, President Biden’s first State of the Union Speech on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, six days after Russia invaded Ukraine, would have taken centre stage in international media.

For the first time in US history, two women, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, second and third in line for the presidency, sat behind the President of the United States during a State of the Union address. A unique and remarkable image of history that has been too long in the making.

Biden spent 12 minutes of the duration of his SOTU address of 61 minutes on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He reserved his harshest remarks against the aggression of President Putin, and his highest praise for President Zelensky and the heroic determination of the Ukrainian people to fight the aggressor to the death.

Significantly, the Republican section of Congress was not empty, attended as it was by many Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, minority leaders of the Senate and the House, respectively. The Republican side of the chamber included two radical right QAnon* maniacs, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, predictably, spent the entire hour of the speech booing and heckling.

The same Taylor Greene who recently slammed the House Committee presently investigating into the January 6 insurrection as being Speaker Pelosi’s “Gazpacho Police”. What the ignorant Congresswoman from Georgia probably meant was “Gestapo Police”. But who can tell? Maybe these Trumpsters feel threatened by the delicious cold tomato Gazpacho soup of Democrats, on the grounds that its red colour is evidence of their espousal of communism. A conspiracy theory no more outlandish than her previous claims that Democrats are “Satanic Pedophile Cannibals” who eat babies, and that the deadly fires in California were caused by Jews (Rothschilds) firing lasers from outer space.

In his address, Biden did not touch on the courageous defiance of 13 Ukrainian soldiers guarding little Snake Island about 50 km. off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland on the Black Sea. When warned by a Russian warship that there will be unnecessary deaths unless they surrendered, the response of these brave Ukrainians, which has since gone viral on the Internet, was: “Russian Warship, Go F… Yourselves”.

Initial reports indicated that all 13 soldiers were killed. However, it is now believed that they are alive and well, held as prisoners in Russia, as heroes in Ukraine. Their words, “Russia, Go F… Yourselves” have become the proud Ukrainian rallying war cry.

This defiant response from a completely outnumbered and outgunned army illustrates the courage and patriotism of the Ukrainians. All Ukrainian men and women are now soldiers, being trained for battle. President Zelensky has also joined the army, no trace of bone spurs. He has been photographed on many occasions in military fatigues, talking and eating with Ukrainian soldiers. Perhaps photo ops, but the image of the President of the country, in battle fatigues, mingling with its citizens is pretty inspiring. Much more so than the ridiculous image of a criminal, egomaniacal sociopath holding a Bible upside down outside a church to prove he is a Christian.

Biden continued, “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world. But he badly miscalculated.

“He thought he could roll into Ukraine, and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined.

“He met the Ukrainian people.

“From President Zelensky to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, literally inspires the world”.

Biden also stressed the need for unity in America, when he said, at the beginning of his address, “Tonight, we meet as Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But most importantly, as Americans. With a duty to one another, to America, to the American people, to the Constitution. And an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny”.

“Always” is an optimistic word in the current context of today’s American politics, with the Republican Party still under the control of a defeated and disgraced wannabe tyrant, whose peddled lies about a rigged election 16 months ago are still believed, against all evidence, by 60% of his Party. The midterms next November are currently predicted to yield control of both the House and the Senate to the Republicans led by Trump. Control that will enable Republicans to rig future elections not only by voter suppression and gerrymandering, but by changing the rules so that any future president will be elected not by the will of the people but by the manipulation of the state legislatures. Significantly, this process has already begun in Republican controlled battleground state legislatures like Texas and Georgia.

Such corruption of the electoral process, the cornerstone of American democracy, will bring to an end Lincoln’s dream of the Grand Experiment of “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

With his decision to invade Ukraine, Putin counted on taking advantage of an already polarized America and attempt to cause a rift in NATO. He has failed, at least where NATO is concerned, as that organization has shown complete solidarity under the leadership of President Biden.

As for American unity, fingers crossed, but there seems a little light bringing clarity and sanity at the end of the Trump tunnel, a tiny chink in the Republican armour as the former president’s acts of criminal fraud and treason are slowly but surely being uncovered.

Biden stressed that “our forces are not engaged, and will not engage in conflict with Russian forces in Ukrainian soil…Together with our allies we are providing support to the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom. Military assistance. Financial assistance. Humanitarian assistance”.

“When the history of this era is written, Putin’s war against Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger”.

President Biden then addressed the pandemic and the economy. His handling of these crises has seen his approval rates plummet to the 30%s. Unfairly, considering he inherited a failed economy, the challenges of a global pandemic, and now, an illegal invasion of a sovereign ally in Europe.

“The pandemic has been punishing. And so many families are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to keep up with the rising costs of food, gas, housing and so much more”. Biden talked about the extensive American Rescue Plan that was implemented last year, saying “few pieces of legislation have done more in a critical moment in our history to lift us out of the crisis”.

“And it worked. It created jobs. Lots of jobs, our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of America”.

Biden talked about the economy which “grew at a rate of 5.7% last year, the strongest growth in nearly 40 years, the first step in bringing fundamental change to an economy which hasn’t worked for the working people of this nation for too long”.

The President said, “Reagan’s ‘trickle-down’ theory has only led to weaker economic growth, lower wages, bigger deficits and the widest income and wealth gaps between those at the top and everyone else in nearly a century”.

He talked about the urgency of the passing of his signature Build Back Better bill, currently stalled in the Senate. Though the Democrats have a wafer-thin majority in the Senate, the legislation has been delayed not just by the intransigence of the Republicans, but obstruction by two Democratic Senators from Red States, Arizona and West Virginia, who are more concerned about their re-election than the welfare of the country. He urged the Senate to pass this bill, which will cost less than Trump’s tax cut of 2017 to billionaires and corporations, so that he could continue with his efforts towards building a socially and economically just America.

Biden touched on his science-based and successful strategy to combat the virus, his plans of reducing health care costs, child care, gun control, funding the police, border control, and many other social programs, which will become a reality after the Build Back Better plan is implemented. Long-delayed legislation which will provide tremendous assistance to working poor, address climate change and rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

He concluded by saying that “the State of the Union, is strong, because you, the American people are strong. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we will be stronger a year from now than we are today”.

*QAnon is a political conspiracy theory that later evolved into a political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere. QAnon centers on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as “Q”. Wikipedia


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Features

Eshan Malinga keeps getting them in the second half

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8 hours ago

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2026/05/12

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Malinga took 4 for 32 against Delhi Capitals, his best bowling figures of the season so far [BCCI]

Life keeps throwing hurdles in his way, but Eshan Malinga keeps vaulting over them. Take his February from hell. For several months, Malinga had been building up to his first ever World Cup, a dream for pretty much anyone who ever picks up a cricket ball. But a week before that World Cup, Malinga dislocated his non bowling shoulder while bowling, which the team’s medical staff have since described as a freak injury they had never seen before.

“I was devastated,” Malinga says. “On top of it being my first World Cup, it was also at home and I didn’t know when I would get that chance again. There were a few days there where I did absolutely nothing.”

And yet in mid-May, here he is grinning from atop a pile of 16 IPL wickets,  having developed a serious reputation as a reverse-swing operator. Sunrisers  Hyderabad’s  explosive batters may have seized the spotlight in this frenetic IPL, but on the bowling front, no SRH bowler has neared Malinga’s wicket haul, which is fifth best in the season overall.  In a year in which they have not had Pat Cummins for seven of their 11 matches, it is Malinga who has held down the fort,  particularly in the second half of the innings.

But trading difficulty for success is just what Malinga does. What he has long been doing. Go back eight years and Malinga had never played a hard-ball cricket match. On top of which his home district of Ratnapura – at the base of Sri Lanka’s central hills – was better known for its gems and waterfalls than cricket, never having produced a men’s international. Malinga, additionally, was not even actively trying to be a cricketer. He had moved from his first school in a village called Opanayake to Ratnapura’s Sivali Central College due to strong academic results, and found, almost by accident, that his new school had a hard-ball cricket team.

But what Malinga knew at that point was that he could bowl fast. That much had been obvious growing up in Opanayaka, where despite his mother’s occasional misgivings, Malinga was highly sought after by the organisers of the village softball team (Sri Lanka has a thriving village-level softball cricket ecosystem). And as had been the case with the better-known Malinga, this one was also aware he possessed a killer yorker – a prized asset in every form of cricket, with any kind of ball.

If he’d been on track to be a softball legend, Malinga found his horizons began to expand at a spectacular rate the moment he got a hard ball in his hands. First, his yorker and his pace began to reap big wickets in the Division Three schools competition for Sivali Central, whose coach had immediately hoisted him into the team upon seeing Malinga bowl at practice one day. Then in mid-2019, about a year into playing hard-ball cricket, came the day he still reflects on as the one that changed his cricketing life. Having missed a fast-bowling competition in Ratnapura because he had been playing for his school that day, Malinga travelled to the hill town of Badulla to bowl in the competition there, and clocked 127kph on the gun, which was enough to win him first place.

This was when he first became a blip, however faint and distant, on Sri Lanka Cricket’s radar. Visions of a cricketing life began to appear as wisps of opportunity began to materialise. The next few years, Covid-riddled though they were, became a crash course into the sport for Malinga. There were coaching camps in Colombo in which the best of the rural talent was trained up and funnelled into a programme at the next level up. There were trials for first-class teams, and eventually a fledgling domestic career.

“I don’t know how many times I came to Colombo from Ratnapura during those times,” he laughs now. “It was a lot! I would leave home at about 3am, and the bus journey to Colombo took about three-and-a-half hours. Then I’d train or play the match, and the bus back home always took longer because of traffic. So every day, I was on the road for more than seven hours.”

The Malinga who made these exhausting daily commutes was, as far as the Sri Lankan cricket system was concerned, a bowler of decent rather than blinding promise. His pace had propelled him to the top of the regional pool, but at the first-class level he was still adapting his yorker and slower ball (another weapon he had developed in his softball days). If he needed another gear, Malinga found it – again almost by accident – sometime in 2022.

“I was playing an Under-23 three-day tournament, and I remember that being the first time I really started reverse-swinging the ball,” he says. “Coaches had anyway told me that with my action and my pace, it should be possible. But it started almost automatically. It’s not something I had to learn.

“But it wasn’t that easy, because it was a long process to learn how to control it. To get reverse swing, you have to release the ball at a different point than a straight ball, because you want it to still hit the stumps when it is swinging. So I scuffed up a lot of balls and trained hard to get that line right.”

And so, the Malinga that emerged at the end of 2022 had sharp enough pace, an excellent yorker, a developing slower ball, mountains of homespun tenacity, and had also discovered that he can naturally reverse-swing the ball earlier in an innings than most. You could have seen where this is going, right? All the ingredients of an ace white-ball bowler were there. And Malinga was already a master of turning wisps of opportunities into tangible advances. Over the next three years, he’d land a spot in the national fast-bowling academy, use that as a trampoline to impress in an Emerging Teams three-dayer against Bangladesh, and from there bounce into a stint at the MRF Pace Academy in 2024, before on the franchise side of things parlaying a trial at Rajasthan Royals at Kumar Sangakkara’s invitation into a decent run at the SA20 for Paarl Royals.

Having leapt up to the fringes of the Sri Lanka team over the past 18 months, Malinga has at this IPL now seized another unusual chance. The square at SRH’s home stadium is among the barest and most abrasive in the league, and Malinga’s reverse swing has prospered upon it. Of his 16 wickets this season, 11 have come at home. In the second half of the innings, when the ball is most likely to reverse, Malinga’s economy rate is 8.37 at a venue where runs have been scored at 9.38 in that period this season.

Malinga had put in a robust 2025 season for SRH as well, so there is a body of work emerging there. Perhaps this is why this year, SRH’s bowling plans have tended to follow the contours of Malinga’s own game.

“After six overs the ball gets damaged here, so we needed to make use of that. When I bowled at practice, the ball reversed, so I think a plan emerged where we were going to use the scuffed up ball and take advantage of that.

“In the first powerplay the ball comes on to the bat nicely here. After that we try to get the advantage of having an older ball. We’ve got bowlers who bowl 140kph-plus, and we have Pat Cummins, who also reverses the ball. So we make sure to look after the ball in a way that will give us reverse.”

At 25, eight years into a serious cricket career, Malinga sees himself as a work in progress. He wants to work on his powerplay bowling. His variations, he thinks, still need some work. He’d like to play Tests, where his reverse swing could really stretch its legs. And, oh, he is still waiting to play that first World Cup.

Even here, his keen nose for opportunity leads him. He points out through the course of our conversation that where the three previous World Cups had been played with a new ball at either end being used right through the innings, the next World Cup, in 2027, will feature rules that seem at least partially designed to enhance reverse swing, an older ball more suited to the craft now available towards the end of the innings.

He isn’t even a sure-fire pick in Sri Lanka’s ODI XI just yet, so this is just a flicker of an opportunity for now. But having made the journey from the village of Opanayaka to the most raucous cricketing showpiece on the planet, Malinga knows just what to do with those.

[Cricinfo]

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Features

High Stakes in Pursuing corruption cases

Published

23 hours ago

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2026/05/12

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Kapila Chandrasena

The death of the most important suspect in the Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus deal has drawn intense public speculation. Kapila Chandrasena the former CEO of the heavily loss-making national airline was found dead under circumstances that the police are still investigating.

He had recently been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption in connection with the controversial Airbus aircraft purchase agreement signed in 2013. Police investigations are continuing into the cause of death and whether or not he committed suicide. The unresolved death brings to light the high stakes involved in accountability efforts of this nature.

The uncertainty surrounding Chandrasena’s death has revived public memories of other mysterious deaths linked to corruption investigations and public scandals. Among them is the death of Rajeewa Jayaweera, a former SriLankan Airlines executive and outspoken critic of the Airbus transaction. He was following in the tradition of his father, the late foreign service officer and public servant Stanley Jayaweera who mentored the younger generation in good governance practices and formed the group “Avadhi Lanka” along with icons such as Prof Siri Hettige. Rajeewa had written a series of articles exposing irregularities in the deal before he was found dead near Independence Square in Colombo in 2020. The CCTV cameras in that high security area were turned off. Questions raised at that time whether or not he had committed suicide were not satisfactorily resolved.

The controversy about the cause of Chandrasena’s death is diverting attention away from the massive damage done to the country by the SriLankan Airlines deal itself. The value of the aircraft agreement was close to the size of the International Monetary Fund bailout package that Sri Lanka desperately needed by 2023 in order to stabilise the economy after bankruptcy. Sri Lanka’s IMF Extended Fund Facility amounted to about USD 3 billion spread over four years. The comparison shows the scale of the losses and liabilities that irresponsible and corrupt decisions have imposed on the country and which must never happen again.

Wider Pattern

The corruption linked to the Airbus transaction came fully into the open only because of investigations conducted outside Sri Lanka. In 2020 Airbus agreed to pay record penalties of more than EUR 3.6 billion to authorities in Britain, France and the United States to settle global corruption investigations. Sri Lanka was identified as one of the countries where bribes had allegedly been paid in order to secure contracts. The Airbus deal involved the purchase of six A330 aircraft and four A350 aircraft valued at approximately USD 2.3 billion. Investigations showed that Airbus paid bribes amounting to nearly USD 16 million in order to secure the contract. According to court submissions, at least part of this money amounting to USD 2 million was transferred through a shell company registered in Brunei and routed through Singapore bank accounts linked to the late airline CEO and his wife.

The commissions involved in this deal may seem comparatively small compared to the overall value of the contracts but devastating in their consequences. But they also show that a few million dollars paid secretly to decision makers could lead to the country assuming liabilities worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars over decades. This is why corruption is not simply a moral issue. It is a direct economic assault on the living standards of ordinary people. Money lost through corruption is money unavailable for schools, hospitals, rural development and job creation. In the end the burden falls on ordinary citizens who are left to repay debts incurred in their name without receiving commensurate benefits in return.

The SriLankan Airlines transaction gives an indication of the wider pattern of corruption and misuse of national resources that has taken place over many years. This was not an isolated incident. There were numerous large scale infrastructure and procurement projects that imposed heavy debts on the country while enriching politically connected individuals and their associates. Other projects such as the Colombo Port City, Hambantota Harbour and highway construction reveal a similar pattern.

Less publicised but equally damaging scandals have involved fertiliser medicine and energy contracts. Investigations into medicine procurement in recent years uncovered allegations that substandard pharmaceuticals had been imported at inflated prices causing both financial losses and risks to public health.

Moral Renewal

The present government appears determined to investigate major corruption cases in a manner that no previous government has attempted. Those who ransacked and bankrupted the treasury need to be dealt with according to the law. There is considerable public support for efforts to recover stolen assets and ensure accountability.

In his May Day speech President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that around 14 corruption cases were nearing completion in the courts this very month and called upon the public to applaud when verdicts are delivered. Political opponents of the government claim that such comments could place pressure on the judiciary and blur the separation between political leadership and the courts. But the deeper public frustration that underlies the president’s remarks also needs to be understood.

The challenge facing Sri Lanka is twofold. The country must ensure that justice is done through due process and independent institutions. If anti corruption campaigns become politicised they can lose legitimacy. But if corruption and abuse of power continue without consequences the country will remain trapped in a cycle of economic decline and moral decay. Sri Lanka also needs to confront past abuses linked to the war period. There are allegations of kidnapping, extortion, disappearances and criminal activity in which members of the security forces have been implicated. Vulnerable sections of the population suffered greatly during those years. If political leaders turned a blind eye or actively connived in such crimes they too need to be held accountable under the law. Selective justice will not heal the country. Accountability must apply across the board regardless of political position, ethnicity or institutional power.

Sri Lanka has paid a very heavy price for corruption and impunity. The economic collapse of 2022 did not occur overnight. It was the result of years of bad governance, reckless decision making, abuse of power and the misuse of public wealth. If the country is to move forward the focus cannot be diverted by sensational speculation alone. Suspicious deaths and political intrigue may dominate headlines for a few days. But the larger issue is the system that enabled corruption to flourish without accountability for so long. The real national task is to end that system. Sri Lanka cannot build a prosperous future on a foundation of corruption and impunity. Unless those who looted public wealth are held accountable and the systems that enabled them are dismantled, the country risks repeating the same cycle again.

Jehan Perera

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Features

When University systems fail:Supreme Court’s landmark intervention in sexual harassment case

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23 hours ago

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2026/05/12

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Over seven years after making an initial complaint of sexual harassment against her research supervisor, Dr. Udari Abeyasinghe, then a temporary lecturer and now a senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, has been finally served justice. On May 8, 2026, the Supreme Court made the following directions regarding Udari’s fundamental rights case: “1) The 1st Respondent [her research supervisor] is prohibited from accepting any post, whether paid or not or honorary, in any university, educational institute or other academic institution; 2) The UGC to issue a direction to all universities and other institutions, coming under its purview, to abstain from giving any appointment, whether paid or not, or honorary, to the 1st Respondent; and 3) The University of Peradeniya, including the Council and respective Respondent [sic], are directed to take appropriate measures to enforce and raise awareness of the University of Peradeniya’s policy on Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment and Sexual Violence for staff and students, including conducting mandatory annual seminars for all academics, staff and students.” I recently spoke with Udari to learn about her experience battling the University’s sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) procedures.

Violence and injustice

Udari was a temporary lecturer when she began working on her MPhil degree. Her research supervisor was a Senior Professor and Dean of her faculty. The harassment began in 2017.

When Udari reached out for support to the SGBV Committee of the University of Peradeniya, the Chair explained the complaint procedure, including how a third party could make a complaint on her behalf. In July 2018, Udari’s mother made a written complaint to the Vice Chancellor (VC). “The very next day [my supervisor] called me … and asked me to withdraw the complaint because it would look bad for me … the university should have taken measures to separate the complainant from the perpetrator … but nothing like that happened.”

Before making the formal complaint, Udari reached out to other academic staff at her Faculty. She shared her experience with a few close colleagues. Many advised her to leave the Faculty. “No one in the Faculty supported me publicly, although some sympathised privately … I was a temporary lecturer … no one really cared.” Some of her colleagues and non-academic staff who knew about the harassments, asked her to avoid involving them because they feared retaliation from higher powers.

Udari faced a preliminary inquiry and then a formal inquiry. The preliminary inquiry took place about four months after her complaint, and the inquiry committee recommended proceeding to a formal inquiry. The latter was held about a year after the initial complaint. “I got to know unofficially that [my supervisor] had got hold of all the statements made at the preliminary inquiry and pressured some colleagues to change their statements before the formal inquiry.” During the time of the formal inquiry, an anonymous letter (“kala paththaraya”) was circulated among staff: “It was a character assassination … the same kala paththaraya would get circulated from time to time.” After the formal inquiry committee submitted its report and recommendations, Udari was informed, in writing, that the University Council had dismissed the report.

“Neither the preliminary inquiry report nor the formal inquiry report were shared with me … I had to make a formal request to the VC and only then did I get a copy of the preliminary inquiry report… I had to get the formal inquiry report through an RTI (a request under the Right to Information Act). What I understand is that [my supervisor] had influenced the Council … that’s why they rejected the report…saying there had been a delay of six months to make a complaint ….” (N. B. there are no time limitations for submitting a complaint in the SGBV by-laws of the University of Peradeniya, although such time bars exist at other universities).

Udari then submitted formal complaints to the University Grants Commission (August 2020) and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (December 2020), and finally filed a fundamental rights case at the Supreme Court in March 2021. Five years later, on May 8th 2026, Udari’s complaint was vindicated.

University procedures and inquiries

When her mother submitted the complaint against her supervisor, Udari was a temporary lecturer. She had given up her dream of pursuing an academic career because she did not think she would be recruited to a permanent position after making a complaint against a faculty member. It is encouraging that Udari was recruited, but in most instances, students and junior staff endure and stay silent to avoid jeopardising their academic careers. We currently have no procedures in place at universities to protect victims and witnesses from backlash.

According to Udari, the former Chair of the SGBV Committee and the members of her preliminary inquiry panel played a crucial role in her case, and, in her words, “could not be influenced.” But SGBV by-laws at state universities place inordinate power in the hands of the Council and VC. According to the SGBV by-laws of the University of Peradeniya, the Council appoints the 15-member SGBV Committee comprising “[t]wo (02) persons from among the members of the Council; [t]en (10) persons drawn from the permanent and senior members of the academic community; and [t]hree (03) persons external to the University, from among the retired academic or administrative staff of the University” (Section 2.1). While the by-laws recommend appointing persons who have demonstrated “gender-sensitivity, proven interest in working on issues of gender equality and equity, and trained to investigate and inquire into cases of sexual or gender-based harassment and sexual violence” (Section 2.1), we know this is often not the case. In many universities, VCs control which cases are taken up and end up in an inquiry. Most students and staff at state universities have little faith in the existing SGBV complaint procedures.

As Udari experienced, the decisions of inquiry committees can be overruled and dismissed by University Councils, indicating the importance of appointing appropriate members to the Councils. The Deans of faculties, who are Ex-officio members, usually collude to protect their own interests and fiefdoms, while the appointment of external members to Councils is deeply politicised. At present, there is no application process or vetting of candidates before they are appointed. They are usually persons who are seen to be sympathetic to the incumbent political dispensation. Furthermore, external members are dependent on the university hierarchy for information on the issues being discussed, the details of which are often hidden from them. It is not surprising then that University Councils would adjudicate on the side of power.

Final recommendation

Beyond barring Udari’s former research supervisor from holding positions in the university system, the Supreme Court has directed the University of Peradeniya to raise awareness on SGBV among staff and students. While SGBV is addressed in the induction courses and orientation programmes at universities, staff and students must be made aware of the nitty-gritties of complaint procedures, including time bars, which were crucial to the outcome of Udari’s case. But is raising awareness sufficient? Do we have ways to hold university authorities accountable for arbitrary and/or prejudicial decision-making and other abuses of power?

For Udari, life continues to be difficult, with constant surveillance of her activities.

“In November 2024 , I shared a post about my case.. it was a newspaper article stating that the Supreme Court had granted leave to proceed… I just took a photograph of it and posted it on my Facebook without any captions… a few weeks later I was summoned by higher authorities…I was informed that several academics had verbally complained about me using my social media to tarnish the name of the faculty and the university and, if that’s the case, that I should know that the University Council has the authority to take action against me … we also spoke briefly about the case and at one point I was told that this incident (harassment) happened to me because I showed some positivity towards (the perpetrator) …”

Let’s hope that university administrations pause before victimising and revictimising SGBV survivors in future. As a community, we have to rethink the hierarchical ways in which universities function and create a meaningful mechanism that supports students and staff to complain without fear of repercussion.

Thank you, Udari, for taking this step forward. University administrations will have to stop, listen and change their ways.

(Ramya Kumar is attached to the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, and is an alumna of the University of Peradeniya).

Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

By Ramya Kumar

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