Sinnathamby Sivamany (aged 24) and Ehamparam Wijikala (aged 22), two Tamil women internally displaced by the ongoing armed conflict in the north and east of Sri Lanka, were arrested by members of the navy in the coastal city of Mannar on 19 March 2001. They were subsequently raped by navy personnel and members of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the police at the office of the Counter-Subversive Unit (CSU) of the police along Pallimunai Road, approximately 500 metres outside Mannar town.