Joint Press Statement by eight (8) Civil Society Groups

The Coroner’s Inquest has failed in dispensing justice to Gunasegaran and his family.

WE, the undersigned organizations, are deeply appalled by the “Open Verdict” of the Coroner presiding at the inquest of R. Gunasegaran who died in police custody on July 16, 2009.

As many as three witnesses have testified at the inquest that Gunasegaran had been kicked and beaten by a police officer until he was unconscious, and the second autopsy has found a 28cm long, 8cm width and 5cm depth scar on his chest.

We cannot believe that such a heavy physical assault and the resultant severe scars on Gunasegaran were not given the due consideration as the most probable cause of death. The coroner’s open verdict is simply unconvincing! We strongly criticize the dismissal of eye-witnesses’ testimony. The coroner’s inquest has apparently failed in dispensing justice without fear or favour, to Gunasegaran and his family.

There are harrowing sexual experiences women everywhere go through but not many get told. Victims of sexual harassment usually bury their misery deep within, and the screams for help that come from them are only on the inside. Because they stay silent, no one knows the torments they struggle to deal with by themselves. And so no one can help in the critical healing of a wounded heart.

FARIDA JIVAMALA IBRAHIM, a victim of sexual harassment down the years, had to deal with yet another sexual harasser a few months ago. For the first time, she writes openly about her experiences in the hope that other victims will know it is never their fault when they become the unwitting target of a sexual predator.

This is her story.

I HAD never met him before. He was there as a guest at our function. Because of the pelting rain, we had delayed starting on time out of consideration for latecomers.

I had not heard him the first time he spoke those demeaning words, I was later told. So he had said them again, this time loud enough for me and the others around him to hear: “Farida, if you don’t start the movie promptly, I am going to strip you naked.”

Even the years of being a victim of harassment had not prepared me for this. Never before had I been confronted so publicly. His was a full frontal attack and without doubt he intended to hit, to hurt and to humiliate.

Yet I was able to say, just as loudly, "If you are going to talk like this, I’m going to send you out of this place. We do not entertain that kind of talk here."