Remembering Sulaxan and Kajan – Still no justice for Jaffna University students shot dead by police

 22 October 2020

Students at Jaffna paid tribute to two of their peers who were shot dead by Sri Lankan police four years ago, and whose murder still has not been brought to justice.

Media faculty students Nadarajah Kajan and Vijayakumar Sulaxan were shot dead by Jaffna police officers in Kokkuvil on October 20, 2016, sparking protests across the North-East, around the island and internationally.

Five police officers were arrested and put on trial in the months after the killing, and three were soon acquitted and became witnesses for the prosecution.

After presentation of evidence to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court, two police officers are awaiting indictment for murder at the High Court. They were both released on bail on June 27 last year.

The Sri Lankan police at first claimed that the two students had died in a motorbike accident, later adding that they were drunk – despite a post mortem report revealing no traces of alcohol in their systems.

To date no one has been held accountable for their murders.

File photo: thousands of Jaffna University students stage a sit-in outside the Northern Province governor's secretariat, demanding justice for the shooting