Dear Editor,
We write to express our disgust and disapproval over the grave disrespect meted out to the 16 year old teenager and her family with regards to the alleged rape and sexual assault by Minister Dharamlall. It is our understanding that this is not the first time that such an allegation has been made against Minister Dharamlall.
We don’t know of the motivations of whoever first leaked this story, or the others who are having a field day with it on their social media platforms. What we do know is that the manner in which this story has been circulating, is not helping this young woman. In fact, in our opinion, it’s like another kind of assault. If we really care about justice, as individuals, organizations, media operatives, we have to be sensitive to people’s emotions and mental well-being.
Have any of these people circulating this story made any attempt to find this family, to speak to the young woman and her parents to find out what they want to do, if they feel able to deal with the situation or even how they want it to be dealt with and what support they need? Or to consider the family’s privacy? If we are not careful we can cause more harm than good in the name of solidarity. In this case, the pride and dignity of this family, especially the young woman, has been disregarded and this is sad and disgraceful.
As if publishing the story is not enough, people are sharing full details of what allegedly took place and even going as far as to publish the picture of a young woman. How is that helpful to the child who is the subject of these allegations, and to her family? How can we be so cruel? How can we be so reckless? I’m sure many of the persons doing this have children, or female relatives of similar age. Put yourselves in the shoes of this young girl and her family for one minute, would any of you want this for your child?
It is not easy for anyone, let alone a young girl to speak out against such atrocities meted out to them. What should have been an opportunity to do what is right for this young woman has turned into a disaster. Even the politicians are using this young woman’s situation for political mileage. This is not having the best interest of this child at heart. This is selfishness. This is exploitation at its worst. Shame and disgrace!
It is a start that the Minister of Human Services and Social Security has recognized that “no one is above the law”. We suggest that instead of all these declarations of and demands for investigations from various authorities, the two Ministers – and the President – who have spoken to this issue must clearly and unequivocally support this child to make a police report. No discussions about any of the social media posts, no fending and proving about who did or said what when; just a genuine and unambiguous offer of protection and support to make a report to the police.
We submit that anything less has the effect of leaving a vulnerable family open to the dangers and threats we know are prevalent in situations like this one.
Sincerely,
Red Thread
