Spotlight

 Untold story of the tsunami's most famous baby as it unfolded over a span of seven weeks

Baby 81 that moved the world By Ranee Mohamed in Kalmunai  When Juanita married her cousin brother Murugpillai Jeyaraj on January 7, 2004 the last thing she expected was to have a honeymoon...... More...

> The Bar strikes back

Untold story of the tsunami's most famous baby as it unfolded over a span of seven weeks

Baby 81 that moved the world

Juanita, Murugpillai and Abhilashi: No  greater love than this

Baby Ahilash in Kovil immediately after  he was handed over to his parents

HIQ Wijetilleke: Many mothers, but only Juanita held fort till the last moment and SI Jameel: Wanted to give the baby to his real parents

By Ranee Mohamed in Kalmunai  When Juanita married her cousin brother Murugpillai Jeyaraj on January 7, 2004 the last thing she expected was to have a honeymoon baby. And it was in this way that baby Abhilash made his dramatic entry to this world on October 19, 2004. "I was not crazy about babies when I married Murugpillai. But when I first set my eyes on my son, the feelings tore my heart, even though he seemed to have forced his way into our lives," said Juanita, Wednesday (16) immediately after she was reunited with her son after 51 days of heartache.

For the newly married Jeyaraj family, living on the fourth house by the beach in Constable Road, Kalmunai, the sea was the background to the beginning of their lives, but it almost became their end, when it rose, to take away their most precious possession.

End of a dream

The month of December had been a beautiful month. There was festivity in the air - that coupled with the joy that their baby brought and the beauty of the sea and married life itself made Juanita wonder, how everything was turning out to be so wonderful for her. So happy was their time together with their baby son that Murugpillai's thoughts went to his own mother.

"We loved our son very much and ran to him each time he made a sound. My son reminded me of my mother and how much she has done for me. This is why I decided to go and see my own mother on December 25. I set off to Kurukalmadam after kissing my three and a half month old son, not just on his cheek and forehead but on the middle of his tiny palms, his feet and eventually kissing my own palm that touched him," recalled Jeyaraj.

That night, Juanita slept soundly, hugging her bundle of joy as close as she could. "I missed my husband, but I have to confess that I just could not bear the thought of one night without my son Abhilash. He loves to sleep with me, especially when there is some contact - his little leg over me, his small palm touching my face," said Juanita in tears.

"On the morning of December 26 he was gurgling and cooing, struggling and kicking his tiny feet. I knew that this was a trick to get his father close to him. But Murugpillai was not at home and I just could not explain to my little son that his father had gone to see his own mother," smiled Juanita.

After giving him his feed of breastmilk Juanita had picked up the napkins that Abhilash had wet through the night and gone outside to wash them, while her sister sat near the door of the house; the baby had been asleep on the floor.

"Suddenly there was a gushing noise and I thought that a house was on fire. I ran towards our home and picked up the baby and told my sister to close the door. Though she closed the door, the water gushed into our house. It filled our kitchen. I gave the baby to my sister and helped her to climb the concrete slab in the kitchen that we used to keep our things. It was like a counter. Then the second wave came and I fell down, it was just immediately after that the third wave came - as it was taking me away, to my horror, I saw my baby Abhilash being thrown away from my sister's arms and my sister falling into the water. I do not know what happened to me after that - I only remember that horrible thought of my baby falling into the water, not even of me being snatched away by the tsunami. I think I fainted, or I think I died.." recalled Juanita.

"When I heard about the sea waves coming to the land, I could not believe it. Survivors said that the wave was higher than the lamp-posts on the streets. I thought of my baby and my wife and I felt nauseous. I came rushing back that evening. It was like a nightmare. As I was walking towards our house, I saw that there was no house. In fact none of the things nor people that I had left behind were there. There were wet broken pieces of concrete, there were clothes and crows, tears and death. It was like visiting a battlefield. I felt my heart tighten. I held my chest. My baby was gone, my wife was gone and my house was no more.." said Murugpillai, crying at the memory of the scene.

Then a friend in damp sandy clothes came up to me and said that my wife and baby were taken away by the sea. That they had died. "I held my head and began to wail. I asked the gods why they did this to me. I was crying and walking around like a madman everywhere. I did not know what time it was and what date it was..." said Murugpillai.

But the date was December 26. And it was on this same day around mid afternoon that Shri Master, an English teacher was walking around to see for himself the extent of the damage the tsunami had caused. Shri Master who believed in living life to the fullest had on that holiday tried to drown the sorrows around him with a drink.

"I was somewhat 'high' on that day," Shri Master had told the police. But even in his subdued state of mind, he had been shaken by the devastation. "I was jumping unsteadily through the wreckage. There was a huge water hole, like a quarry and chairs, clothes and kitchen utensils were swirling in the waters of the quarry. However, from the roots of a tree lining the quarry came strange clucking sounds. I was sure it was a chicken," Shri Master told the police.

The baby

In fact, Shri Master's face had lit up with the expectation of having devilled chicken for his evening 'bite.' And it was with this thought that a blinking Shri Master pulled the 'chicken' out only to discover that it was a baby.

Shri Master had not known what exactly he ought to do with the baby. The baby had cried so much and had almost lost his voice - he was only able to make strange sounds. Shri Master had given the baby to a man called Alaigaiya. Alaigaiya though with a defective eye had somehow taken the baby and had gone to the Kalmunai hospital, where he had handed the baby over amidst the chaos.

This was a scene that Murugpillai missed. Wailing and shouting, Murugpillai began to roam the wreckage when he returned on the evening of December 26. "Then someone tapped me and said that he saw my wife in the Kalmunai hospital yesterday. I ran on the streets to the Kalmunai hospital. I looked at all the bodies of the women and babies, but the bodies of my wife and baby were not among the corpses.

What Murugpillai in his anguish did not hear were the cries of Baby Abhilash who was by then tagged No. 81 - and an orphan - in the same hospital in which his father was anxiously looking for corpses.

What Murugpillai did not know was that Abhilash was alive and literally, kicking.

"Then I went to the Amparai hospital and looked everywhere for my wife and baby. I walked down every ward. There were bodies, there were flies and cries. I thought I was going to lose my mind," said Murugpillai.

The cries and wails from the hospital seemed to give life to Murugpillai's thoughts. He was shivering in fear, his mouth had been dry at the thought of what would have happened to his wife and baby whom he had left alone just the night before.

"I came back to Kalmunai and back to where we lived. I had secret expectations that they may have returned," said Murugpillai. But those were great expectations in these bad times.

Murugpillai failed to realise what he looked like, disheveled, dirty and unshaven he continued to roam the streets. "I did not eat or drink anything, I merely roamed the streets."

On December 27, Murugpillai decided to go to Samanthurai to continue the search for his loved ones. But deep inside, by now he was beginning to lose hope. "I went to Samanthurai to look for them. I spent the whole day screening all the dispensaries and clinics," said Murugpillai.

But Juanita and baby Abhilash seemed to have disappeared from his life.

As he was walking like a zombie down the streets of Samanthurai, the most amazing vision was 100 metres away from him - it was of his wife Juanita and her sister walking on that same street.

"I ran to them screaming and hugged and kissed them. Then I asked her where the baby was and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. Actually she had been so happy at seeing me - harbouring the secret expectation that our baby is with me," said Murugpillai.

It was on the evening of December 27 that Murugpillai was told what happened to baby Abhilash, about the waves and of baby Abhilash being thrown to the sea. Murugpillai's momentary happiness was engulfed with a tsunami of sadness.

He kept imagining his helpless baby falling into the sea and the thought blew his heart and mind to smithereens.

But Murugpillai was determined to stay sane, for he knew that this was the only way in which he and his wife can ever try to find their baby. It was almost dusk now and Murugpillai, Juanita and her sister had climbed into a STF truck and had gone to a refugee camp in a school in Amparai.

Endless search

"Three days later we heard a story through a friend of ours in the camp that Shri Master had found a baby. We rushed to see Shri Master and when we asked him, he told us "'Yes, I found a baby, go to the hospital and see whether it is your baby,'" said Murugpillai.

Juanita and Murugpillai could have entered any marathon, for it is with such vigour that this couple, who had not eaten for days ran towards the hospital. It was December 31, the time for the dawn of a new year, and for the Murugpillais it began with a new hope - in fact the greatest hope of all - of having their baby back in their arms again.

Murugpillai's thoughts rushed to his friend at the hospital, Dr. Sashishantram. "When I went to see the doctor, he told me that there had been a baby. "'Go to the ward and see,' he told me," said Murugpillai. Juanita and Murugpillai had gone to the hospital. They had asked the medical superintendent who had confirmed that there had been a baby who was handed over by a man and who fitted Abhilash's description. But on inquiries they made, they found that a nurse called Pushpa had taken the baby and was living at the Central Camp. The couple had then rushed to the Central Camp in search of baby Abhilash. But they could not trace the nurse nor the baby

Then Murugpillai and Juanita had gone to nurse Pushpa's home in search of her, but more for baby Abhilash. Those at her home had told them, "Yes, there had been a baby, that it was brought there due to the fear of another tsunami and that the baby was being well cared for..." They were told that the nurse had taken the baby back to Kalmunai Hospital.

It was a heartbreaking, joyous yet frustrating January 1, for Murugpillai and Juanita. Heartbreaking, because they could not see their Abhilash, joyous, because they knew that their baby was well and alive somewhere.

January 1, 2005 ended this way for the young couple - a day spent rushing to and fro from hospitals and residences - another day spent in starvation, tears and hope. Before  January 2 could dawn, Murugpillai and Juanita were at the Kalmunai hospital. In the wee hours of the morning of  January 2, the couple had rushed to the Kalmunai hospital.

"We went to see the Medical Superintendent Dr. K. Murugananthan and told him that we wanted to see the baby and he directed us to ward No. 5," recalled Murugpillai.

It was a moment greater than winning the grand lottery, even a greater moment than being born or seeing the doors of heaven open - it was a moment of a happiness that seemed to fill their hearts and burst it at its seams - for there, lying in bed, almost half naked was their most cherished possession - "our baby, baby, Abhilash!"

And there he was tagged this way, with a number - number 81, being called number 81, while all the time in the hearts and minds of his mother and father was his name filling each cell, warming every vein and artery in their body with his mere thought - their lips chanting Abhilash like a mantra.

But the happiness was followed with more heartache, for just then there had been a telephone call. The couple had been asked to go and see a VOG at the hospital. They had been questioned about identification marks of their baby. "We told them about his bent left ear and the birth marks," said Murugpillai.

But what the Murugpillais were unable to tell the hospital authorities were about a thread around little Abhilash's hip and left hand. Doubts began to creep in and the newly discovered happiness of Murugpillai and Juanita were soon hanging on a thread. For taking advantage of the doubtful situation, nine women were now telling the hospital authorities that Abhilash belonged to each one of them.

Juanita and Murugpillai were more frightened than they had ever been in their lives. "We just could not imagine anyone else taking our Abhilash away. It was then that we decided to go to the police. All the doubts began because of this thread.

To add to Murugpillai and Juanita's heartache hospital authorities began to confirm their doubts about these "parents." "When the doctor cut the pieces of thread and showed it to us, we told him that we had never seen it," said Juanita.

Investigation

What the couple did not know was that the nurse who took the baby had tied some thread of religious significance on the baby in the belief that the baby seemed "frightened."

Crying their hearts out and pushing nurses away the couple pleaded with the hospital authorities to give them their baby.

This is how OIC Crimes, SI A. L. M. Jameel began inquiring into this case. "We had to remand this couple for a few hours because they had created such a furore in the hospital. It had upset the hospital employees too," said SI Jameel. "They had pushed aside the hospital employees and tried to take the baby forcibly," explained the inspector.

"We recorded their complaint. But we had to be absolutely sure that the baby went to his parents," said the HQI of the Kalmunai Police, W. C. Wijetilleke.

When the police had taken over the case, the nine other 'mothers' had disappeared from the hospital and from the scene.

"None of them lodged a complaint with us," said SI Jameel.

SI Jameel went on to say that he had observed the behaviour of Juanita and Murugpillai. "They came to see the baby everyday, there was an urgency and a sadness about them that told me that they could be the parents. But we had to be absolutely sure that there was no injustice by the baby, Baby 81 had to go to his rightful parents."

Rightful parents

And Baby 81 did go to his rightful parents Wednesday morning when DNA tests confirmed that he belonged to the arms of Murugpillai and that those kisses and tears of Juanita are for him and him alone.

"I had bought a bottle of sleeping tablets and truly intended to swallow them if I did not get baby Abhilash back," said Murugpillai wiping the tears with his left hand and holding one of 200 coconuts that he had before him for the gods Kataragama, Vishnu and Lord Ganesh. Earlier Wednesday the couple took the baby to the kovil in Kalavanchchikudy, where they had appealed to all gods to give them back their most precious possession.

"I could not wait till Wednesday dawned. Each time someone switched on a light, I thought the day had dawned," said Juanita holding the light of her life closer to her bosom.

It is amazing how much happiness a baby can bring. Juanita and Murugpillai have forgotten that they have lost their home, their clothes, all their possessions and have not received a cent in aid.

Living in a house belonging to a relative, wearing a borrowed shirt, this barber who owns Saloon Top,  is acting like he is on top of the world, after losing all his possessions.

"Of what use are goods and houses?" asks Murugpillai getting ready to leave as Abhilash screams at him, blaming him, in no uncertain terms, for the wet nappy that is clinging to his little thighs.

The Bar strikes back

Desmond Fernando, Sarath N. Silva and Ikram Mohamed

By Sonali Samarasinghe

Last week the legal fraternity collectively shed their personal political upholstery to vote for a new president to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). Even though five polling stations are yet to forward their results at the time of writing, Desmond Fernando, PC, had established his victory with a majority of 128 votes over Ikram Mohamed, PC.

Never before has a BASL election been less about the candidates and more about the profession and the independence of the judiciary. Never before has one candidate - namely the incumbent president - Ikram Mohamed, PC carried with him so much unpopular baggage to an election, thus almost guaranteeing his defeat.

Desmond vs. CJ

Indeed some sections of the media dubbed the election a vote of no confidence by the Bar on Chief Justice Sarath Silva and called the election a contest not between Desmond and Ikram, but between Desmond and the Chief Justice. Banner headlines in the run up to the elections read, 'Desmond vs. CJ.' This then was the undercurrent that pervaded the whole election.

The fact that the Chief Justice made several coincidental visits to the outstation bars during the height of the election campaign only led to the inference that he was campaigning for the incumbent President Ikram Mohamed. Whether this endeared him to Mohamed we cannot of course say, but it certainly did not endear Mohamed to many potential voters. At best these visits were ill timed and could have been postponed to ensure no wrong inferences were made. Needless to say, the Chief Justice visited many of these outstation Bars to open court complexes, hand over court equipment and furniture and make speeches allegedly stating that projects already started could only continue efficiently if the status quo were to remain.

Dead meat

In the eyes of the lawyers, Ikram Mohamed could not have had a greater foe in his corner. When the state media took up his cause especially in the irresponsible manner that it did just hours before the election, Mohamed was dead meat. Maverick lawyer Hemantha Warnakulasuriya went on state television to make critical comments on Fernando's candidature followed by the state media itself observing that Fernando was an elderly man but had tried to hide his age by publishing in his campaign letter to the lawyers, a photograph taken many years ago when he was a young man. If these comments were made to gain more votes for Mohamed it did just the opposite.

Some lawyers went to the extent of saying that they changed their minds to vote for Desmond after seeing this unfair vilification on state media. To his credit however, Mohamed appeared on television next morning quickly dispelling rumours that his opponent Desmond Fernando had backed down from the race. Rumours spread by a mischievous state media attempting a last punch.

Mohamed also had supporters around him who brought up issues like Christianity into the equation. Lawyers who were approached with the campaign slogan 'if Mr. Desmond Fernando wins, the Church will control the Bar,' could scarce forbear to ridicule this absurd suggestion especially when most of Fernando's supporters were stalwarts of Buddhism and Mohamed himself was a Muslim.

If ever there was a moment when Ikram Mohamed could cry in anguish, with friends like these who needs enemies, then this moment was that moment. It is thus we say that, Mohamed a decent senior lawyer well loved by his juniors and seniors alike and respected by his clients was a man with a handicap.

Judiciary in crisis

The result of the election was therefore an endorsement of the opinion that the profession and the judiciary was in crisis and that the BASL should not be run by a president whose loyalty was not to the profession at large but to one individual. That the result came at a time when tradition decreed the incumbent president could stay on for another year uncontested, gave further credence to this view.

That lawyers shed their political garb and voted for the profession alone was evident not only because many SLFP lawyers openly said they considered a vote for Desmond a vote against the Chief Justice but also because two of the most respected SLFP legal stalwarts H. L. de Silva, PC and senior attorney R. K. W. Gunasekera stood steadfastly behind Desmond Fernando's candidature.

Lawyers are by nature political animals. And parliament is often replete with lawyers in political garb. But lawyers are also trained to be independent thinkers. They respect the rule of law and hold sacred the independence of the judiciary. An attempt to interfere with the profession will ultimately be repulsed even if it sometimes takes longer than it should. You need only attend one Voetlights dinner - an annual tradition over a century old, to realise that lawyers are fiercely proud of their profession.

In any democracy the private bar and the Bar Association are regarded as the most vital critics of the justice system and the administration of justice. In the recent past the Bar Association had not fulfilled that role.

All time low

Certainly, one of the accusations made by the new president elect Desmond Fernando was that the profession was in crisis, the public perception of the bar and the judiciary was at an all time low and that incumbent President Ikram Mohamed was doing little to curb this deterioration. He also held that Mohamed was loyal not to the profession but to an outside individual. While he did not name the individual, lawyers were well aware that the individual referred to was the Chief Justice of the country and that was the rallying call in Fernando's campaign.

From the whispering going on in the run up to the election, the result unseating Ikram Mohamed was the culmination of a series of events which lawyers increasingly felt were allowed to slip out of control.

The Wellawaya Magistrate issue and the subsequent inaction by Ikram Mohamed as president BASL to take action or indeed hold an inquiry was high on the list. Another was the meek acceptance by the president BASL of the dubious explanation given by President Kumaratunga regarding her comment that the entire judiciary was corrupt. A comment she later denied despite video footage to the contrary and which denial the BASL under the presidency of Mohamed accepted without question even though such video footage was available.

President Kumaratunga's recent statement should have been the subject of intense scrutiny by the BASL because she had earlier accused a Supreme Court judge of being corrupt and claimed to have a file to this effect in her possession. She held this file as a Sword of Damocles over the heads of every single Supreme Court Judge by refusing to name him. This prompted even the Chief Justice, who due to the President's assertion, was himself now suspect in the eyes of the public, to write to Kumaratunga requesting her to name the judge or to withdraw the allegation. She did neither.

And the Wellawaya Magistrate issue kept gathering momentum not only due to the alleged manner of the suspension itself, but also the non-committal attitude perceived to be taken by the BASL under the leadership of Ikram Mohamed.

Contempt threat

The very fact was that when the Bar Council met to discuss the issue, various complaints by individuals against the Wellawaya Magistrate were freely circulated to the members of the Bar Council and a letter from the Chief Justice read out to them which stated that if in fact they were to discuss the suspension of this magistrate they could be in contempt of court. In effect the Chief Justice by his letter was warning the Bar that if this matter was discussed the entire body of lawyers in this country may be held in contempt of court.

Furthermore, the committee set up to inquire into this matter was allowed to disintegrate with only Desmond Fernando willing to courageously take up the issue. However, Ikram Mohamed failed to supply him with the letter sent by the Chief Justice, which of course would have been crucial to the inquiry. However, adverse documents against the magistrate attached as annexures to the letter were freely circulated. Mohamed confirmed this fact in an exclusive interview to The Sunday Leader last week.

The magistrate in question - Bandara has already lodged a petition with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (See Box) regarding his suspension from the judiciary. He in fact refers to the above-mentioned indiscriminate distribution of complaints made against him by various individuals without giving him a right to reply the allegations and makes it one of the pillars of his petition.

Impact

That the Wellawaya Magistrate issue had a great impact on the outcome of this election is not in doubt. In Embilipitiya where Magistrate Bandara's father is a leading lawyer of the Bar and the organiser in the Kolonne District for the Sama Samaja Party, Desmond received double the votes Ikram did.Magistrate Bandara's father was shot in the back in 1989 while doing his daily bodhi pooja allegedly by the JVP.

In the Tangalle District, the hometown of the Bandara family, Ikram received only one vote while Desmond bagged 18.

BASL inaction

Magistrate Bandara's petition lodged with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka on October 20 last year specifically states in two paragraphs that when summoned to appear before the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), (See box for details) the Chief Justice who is also the chairman of the JSC scolded him in disparaging and defamatory language. The story in the legal circles is that some of the words allegedly used were buruwa, thamuse, gona and pissa.

The story also making the rounds amongst a large section of lawyers is that when Magistrate Bandara refused to hand over his resignation as allegedly demanded by the Chief Justice on the basis that his order issuing a warrant for the arrest of a top police official was legal, the Chief Justice allegedly was to say, 'parata bahinna neethiya ugannana.'

The truth or otherwise of this can only be determined at an inquiry. An inquiry that the HRC will not be allowed to hold on the basis of ruling by the JSC and a subsequent opinion by the Attorney General that the HRC cannot go into matters of appointments, recruitment, suspension of members of independent bodies such as the JSC, PSC and the Police Commission. However, Chairperson, HRC, Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy told The Sunday Leader it intends to challenge this ruling in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Bandara has indicated to his lawyers that he would give specific details of the exact disparaging and defamatory words allegedly used on him by the Chief Justice, at an inquiry into this matter. It is thus to the detriment of all parties that an inquiry cannot be held so that the truth or falsity of these statements by the magistrate could be determined.

In the meantime, the issue played a large role in the defeat of Ikram Mohamed. The issue may have lost its impact on the election if the committee appointed to go into this matter had in fact done so.

Another feature of this election was the clear majority Desmond Fernando received in Colombo, obtaining 1,100 votes. It is in the Colombo Bar - a relatively prosperous Bar not in dire need of office equipment and furniture to carry on its functions, that the influence of the Chief Justice on the profession itself is most strongly felt and indeed experienced.

Thus the Colombo Bar turned out in numbers to vote for Desmond Fernando. In the outstations where often even bare necessities such as chairs and tables and even proper courts are scarce, the priorities may sometimes defer. If a lawyer has no chair to sit on, a typewriter to type a plaint, that becomes his first priority in order that he may first exercise his right to practice his profession. Moreover, in the outstations the personal experience of the conduct of the apex court in this country is obviously not felt. The promise of court complexes and chairs become understandably important. In the outstations Ikram Mohamed won by 120 votes.

But these were not the only events to have an impact. The inaction by the BASL to press for an inquiry and ascertain why the police guard was withdrawn from the residence of the late High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya, the refusal to take action against a coterie of lawyers who thought it fit to hoot down Tirantha Walaliyadda PC, when he marked his appearance for the suspect Potta Naufer in the Justice Ambepitiya murder case also created a perception amongst lawyers that the BASL was akin to a toothless hag.

Bogollagama case

Another important issue that made an impact in Colombo was the Supreme Court decision on the eve of the election squashing the expulsion of NationalEnterprise and Advance Technology Minister Rohitha Bogollagama from the UNP, holding that the UNP had violated the Audi Alteram Partem principle of natural justice by failure to provide an opportunity for Bogollagama to be heard in its case against him.

A principle that ironically, is one of the bases of the petition filed by the Wellawaya Magistrate in the HRC.

It now remains to be seen whether Desmond Fernando will live up to his word and ensure the BASL will not dance to the tune of any individual and fight to protect the integrity of the legal profession and the independence of the judiciary.