Violence against women and children

Nor would anyone argue that there is much to do to combat the problem and that not enough is being done. It is bad enough to have to read and hear about rapes and acid attacks on a daily basis, but what makes this epidemic of violence even worse is the fact that justice is often denied to the victims due to the vicissitudes and failures of our legal system that is meant to protect them and give them justice. This is utterly scandalous.

One main problem with prosecuting such cases is that the system is stacked against the victim and that there is widespread manipulation of the legal process. It has been reported that starting from the investigation and medical check-up all the way to the trial, the doctors, lawyers, and law enforcement officials involved are subject to manipulation by perpetrators of crime for financial, political, and so-called security reasons.

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In addition to this, the legal process is cumbersome, humiliating, and time-consuming, doctors often are insensitive towards and uninterested in the victims, rendering the needed medical examinations very unpleasant to obtain, and the public prosecutors assigned to the cases often give them low priority.

If we are serious about combating violence against women and children, we must redress these problems. Being raped or abused or tortured is a terrible enough ordeal without the legal and medical system in place adding to the woes of the victims and hindering their quest for justice.

The government must take immediate steps to address the shortcomings of the system in which over 3,000 cases are pending, and in which following through with prosecution is so burdensome and difficult that thousands more are never brought to trial by the traumatised victims.