The Singapore Police on Wednesday concluded its finding on the CCTV video clip that Sri Lanka’s Central Provincial Councillor Manel Bandara had not committed an act of sexual harassment in touching a Singaporean woman on her shoulder during a study tour, well informed sources revealed.
Bandara was taken into custody following a complaint to the police that the Councillor reportedly harassed her sexually while coming down a stairway at a hotel a fortnight ago.
Bandara was taken into custody following a complaint to the police that the Councillor reportedly harassed her sexually while coming down a stairway at a hotel a fortnight ago.
The Councillor’s passport and travel documents were seized by the Singapore Police until investigations concluded. He was allowed to return to Sri Lanka last Thursday (21).
Bandara had told the Police that he patted her on her shoulder as a foreigner to say goodbye as a gesture of goodwill. He told Nation that the media had blown the incident out of proportion to display it as a ‘sex scandal’ or ‘sex abuse’. ‘I have asked the Media Minister to initiate an investigation into those media reports aimed at tarnishing my image’, he added.
The Police in Singapore viewed the CCTV video clip at length on Wednesday with software experts and concluded that the Councillor while parting at the end of the stairway had patted the woman on the shoulder to bid goodbye.
The video clip had provided evidence that both parties had been waving their hands while parting.
Asked whether he would file action against the woman for making a false complaint, Bandara asked ‘Why should I go all the way to Singapore to waste my money on a useless exercise?’
