Another woman has died suspectedly as a result of domestic violence, and it would appear that the authorities sworn to stamp out Domestic Violence are happy to kill her again by refusing to investigate the circumstances preceding her death.
Notwithstanding the law and public education announcements, we know that there remain too many corners of Guyana where for a range of reasons, including ignorance of the law, reports of domestic violence are not made to the Police. The case of Indramattie Boladass would appear to be one such case. If our formal institutions are serious about a so-called zero tolerance for Domestic Violence, then surely the reported statement of the Crime Chief is not just insultingly dismissive, but indicative of a lazy desire to ignore information which is in the public domain. One could be excused for thinking that Mr. Seelall Persaud has some reason for refusing to investigate the reports of violence against Ms. Boladass. Has Mr. Persaud satisfied himself that the broken bones and bruises displayed by the medical examination at the PHD were the result of a fall as the husband claims?
And on the health front, have the Chief Medical Officer and Minister of Health been following the reports of the death of Ms. Boladass, and have they ascertained that the autopsy procedures and reports provide adequate information in relation to death -causes, contributing and underlying factors and descriptive information about the state of the body under examination? Are these health officials satisfied that all necessary medical attention was given to Ms Boladass?
And are these officials able to say what the protocol is in relation to patients being admitted with marks of violence and reports of violence?
Too many women have been murdered and injured for this year alone. We cannot hope to reverse this trend if the supervising authorities appear, by their inaction, to give their approval to the killers and abusers.
Yours faithfully,
Karen de Souza
Red Thread
