Four soldiers in custody over YouTube video

5 April 2014 03:14 am

The Army’s Military Police are currently questioning four soldiers with regard to the leaked video footage which went on YouTube showing a group of trainee women soldiers being harassed at an Army Camp in Anuradhapura.

Adjutant General Mahinda Hathurusinghe said four soldiers were arrested by the Military Police and were being further questioned.

“During investigations it was found that the platoon commander was not aware of the situation and the cruelty treatment meted out to the trainee women soldiers by the soldiers in custody,” he said.

The video was leaked to YouTube last month. It was found out that the video footage was recorded by a group of Army personnel in October 2012.
The Army was informed about the incident on March 4 this year.

In a statement issued soon after the video was found on the internet, the Military said, “the punitive methods employed by the instructors were not in line with prescribed army procedures.”

The video footage shows female recruits being harassed and assaulted with sticks during a training session by both male and female soldiers.(Supun Dias)