Personal data
Name
Kanishta Kaneshalingam
Date of birth
1999
Age
9
Place of birth
–
Biographical details
Kanishta Kenshalingam was a 9-year-old Tamil child and lived with her family in Mullivaikal west, in Distrikt Mullaithivu.
Indcident
Date
02.06.2008
Location
Karuppaddamurippu, Mullaithivu
Description
On 02 June 2008, Kanishta Kaneshalingam was returning in a van with her grandma, her aunty, and members of other two families from a temple festival of a locally famous Nahathambiran Hindu temple. As the van was travelling on the Oddisuddan-Mankulam road, around 8.00 pm it came under a claymore attack of the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka military near the village Karuppaddamurippu (8 km from Mankulam). Six of the victims including Kanishta and her gradnmother were killed on the spot. The four injured people were transferred to Mullaithivu hospital after a long delay. Claymore attacks on public transport services, ambulances, and private vehicles carried out by the Sri Lankan military were typical terror acts against Tamil civilians.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
To data, no one of the responsible persons were held accountable – neither soldiers nor their chief commander, who were involved in this attack. There was no investigation or any criminal proceedings concerning this massacre.