PC assaults pada yatra devotees

By K.D.Devapriya.

A large group of people were shocked when a police constable assaulted
people with a wooden pole when they went into the Menik Ganga to drink
water and fill their vessels immediately after the water cutting
ceremony on Monday.

About 10 people were subjected to this assault and some who were hit
fell into the water.

A majority of those who were beaten are devotees who came from North
East through Yala forest in a Pada Yatra.

It is customary for devotees to drink and carry water home after the
water cutting ceremony. They treat it as holy water.

After it was announced that the water cutting was done on the upper
portion of the Menik ganga by beating drums, devotees who were about a
kilo metre downstream started getting into the ganga chanting 'Haro
Hara'. At that moment the police constable started his assault.

Kataragama police say that the PC involved is an officer who had come
from the out station on special duty.