BDF, Police accused of abuse

Sharon Mathala | Tuesday January 17, 2023 06:00

 

The Monitor can reveal that last week, one police officer and four soldiers brutally assaulted sex workers around one of the famous hotels in the city centre. Some of the sex workers (names known to this publication) narrated their harrowing near death experience at the hands of the law enforcement officers.

According to the sex workers, they were going about their normal routine of waiting for ‘customers’ when just after midnight they were brutally assaulted by the law enforcement officers.

When The Monitor news team caught up with the group some of them had just come back from hospital, they acknowledged that their trade is illegal, but believe they should be treated like human beings. “We begged them to stop beating us.

They are men and we are women. We are honestly incapable of defending ourselves against men, let alone a soldier or police officer,” they shared. Narrating the ordeal the women, some with blue eyes, battered lips and bruises on their backs say that they were attacked by law enforcement officers for ‘selling their bodies’ “We tried to run but they caught up with us.

They did not even say a word to us instead they started assaulting us. They beat us with everything they could find, sticks and the back of their guns. They kicked and slapped us around. We were defenceless,” they further alleged. “I remember at one point one of them said to me they would stop beating me if I gave him one round,” said another sex worker.

Asked if the Monday evening incident was the first time, they were assaulted by police officer they said: “No, They did the same thing last year. It is just that last year majority of the attacked sex workers were foreigners and they are afraid to report and speak out about it.” Another sex worker alleges that she has a case of rape that she reported to the police, but they (police) have not done anything about it.

“The reason why we sometimes don’t report abuse to law enforcement is because our cases are not taken seriously. I was raped by one customer last year. He picked me up here at our spot asking for an all nighter, but when we got to his house in Ledumadumane he changed. He started being violent and refused to use a condom. When he was done with me he beat me up and chased me out of his house. I reported the case to the police, but instead I was met with degrading insults from the police,” she said.

The sex worker said the police did not treat her with dignity when she reported the matter and they are yet to get back to her, even though she provided the Police with all the information and address of her ‘rapist’ customer. Meanwhile the police could neither confirm nor deny the Monday incident. Instead, Central Police Station Commander, Mathews Gatang, told The Monitor that as the police they operate within the confines of law and do not assault citizens. “We don’t have that incident you are talking about, but I encourage them to come to our office and report the assault that they allege.

As for now we don’t have any report or anyone we arrested for the matter you speak of,” he said. Despite denial by the police, The Monitor can reveal that one of the sex workers who spent a night in jail has a case before one of the customary courts in the city and her second mention is scheduled for this week.