Dear Editor,
A small story appeared in the Diwali day edition of Guyana Times. It tells how a woman was fined for wasting the court’s time. It is reported that Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo fined Khemwattie Budwaha $2,000 because Ms Budwaha did not want to press charges against her partner Victor MacKenzie who was charged for beating her.
Ms Budwaha requested what millions of women world wide have requested. The National Domestic Violence Policy which was launched with much fanfare in June 2008 states that “Government will ensure that all responses across all sectors are managed by enlightened persons who understand the dynamics of domestic violence and who will ensure that the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act 1996 are honoured”.
The policy also states that “The establishment of family courts should be priority for the improved implementation of the DVA.”
We do not know what Magistrate Nagamootoo’s intention was in fining Ms Budwaha for wasting the court’s time. This sort of decision is not the decision expected from any person who is enlightened to the dynamics of domestic violence.
Millions of women have asked police and the courts to intervene because they wish the man’s violence to stop and not because they wish for the relationship to end.
Service providers are taught to expect that many women do not wish to end the relationship, because of a variety of reasons and that providing services includes respecting that wish and ensuring that no harm could be done. It is not easy to charge and jail someone you have chosen to be a life partner. Fining women for wasting the court’s time because they are not ready to make the decisions which the service providers want them to make does not help.
Ms Budwaha’s case came much further than those of many other women. To be further abused by a system which is supposed to be protecting her does her no justice.
Domestic violence interventions require sensitivity to the needs of the victims. It is important for the Government to implement its Domestic Violence policy urgently so as to ensure that domestic violence matters are brought before court officers who are appropriately trained to handle such matters.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
