Sri Lankan court releases husband of top female athlete on bail following accusations of assault

A Sri Lankan court has today released on bail, the husband of a top female athlete, after he was accused of assaulting the athlete over a family dispute.

The Horana Magistrate's Court has released Dhammika Ranasinghe, the husband of Sri Lanka sprint queen, Susanthika Jayasinghe, on a personal bail of Rs. 50,000 and cash bail of Rs.5,000 after he appeared before court.

Jayasinghe had lodged a complaint at the Police Women and Children's Bureau about a family dispute where she had allegedly been assaulted by her husband.

Horana Chief Magistrate Mahinda Prasad Ranasinghe had ordered Jayasinghe's husband to appear in court on May 10 and to report to the Bandaragama Police in the morning hours of every last Sunday of the month.

Susanthika, the silver medalist in 200 meter event at 2000 Olympics in Sydney retired from sports on February 5, 2009 to focus on raising a family. On March 31, 2009, she gave birth to a baby boy.

She contested the April 2010 parliamentary elections from the ruling party but did not win a seat.

Last November, the 35-year-old athlete said that she would return to competition and begin practicing.

Domestic violence has become a serious issue in Sri Lanka. Recently a woman parliamentarian, Upeksha Swarnamalee was hospitalized following an assault by her husband.