The computer used for the education of a girl who was sitting for the Grade 5 scholarship Examination this year had been sold by her drunken father to buy arrack.
However with the intervention of Ingiriya OIC Chief Inspector Wasantha Chandralal, it was found and returned to the girl within a few minutes.
While the OIC was in his office, the phone started ringing and he had answered it and heard a little girl’s voice on the other end.
“Police uncle, my father took my computer, sold it to someone, got drunk and is now sleeping. Please, uncle, find me the computer,” she had been crying.
The OIC had listened carefully and said, “Daughter, don’t cry, I will find it somehow, just tell me where your house is, I will come to your house now,” and asked the girl for the address of her house.
In spite of his duties, within a few minutes, the OIC along with another two Police officers had gone to the girl’s residence and found out that the girl’s mother is abroad and the girl is in the care of her grandmother.
Then, according to the girl’s complaint, the girl’s father, who was already asleep in the house, was called and asked about the computer. Then it had been revealed that he had sold the computer for Rs. 3,500 to an individual in Poruwadhanda.
Accordingly, the Police team including the OIC had gone in search of the house to which the computer had been sold and inquired about the computer bought for Rs. 3,500 and warned them to be more careful when buying someone else’s property and to be more alert when a person sells something for a very low price. The computer was then taken into Police custody.
Then the OIC had called the girl, her grandmother and her father who sold the computer, to the Police station. The OIC had told the girl’s father that his wife had gone to a distant country and was working day and night to keep her only child happy and what he was doing was making the child sad and engaging in lowly activities which do not suit a father and is not approved by civilized society.
The OIC had said further that the word ‘father’ is not suitable for people like him and warned him that if he acts like this again, necessary measures will be taken to punish him by law.
Bimal Jayasinghe Bandaragama Corr.