I want to start this off by clarifying that I have no more information on this matter than is available in the public domain. There might be information known by the parties involved that might contradict my statements here, but the point of this missive should not be disregarded as it is meant to be a critique of a larger issue, but using this matter as an example.
The reports surrounding an incident involving Khadijah Ameen and an incident which was alleged to have taken place earlier this week has taken on a new component as reports of police charges against Ms. Ameen linger in the air. The truth of the matter is that none of us may ever be made aware of the whole picture of an incident that occurred behind closed doors, nor should such information concern the nation at large. The only information that should be relevant to the national community is whether or not anyone involved was harmed, and we should thank God that doesn’t appear to be the case and the issue was resolved somewhat peacefully.
Recently there has been a larger conversation regarding domestic violence and the unmitigated attacks on women in this country that continue to be ignored by the authorities involved. It was only last month that a body was discovered in the yard of a home in a relatively upscale neighbourhood, and investigations have since revealed that there were reports made to the police regarding alleged domestic violence occurring at the residence, yet nothing was seemingly done to prevent this tragedy. However, this isn’t an outlier as every week there are increasingly more harrowing reports about the growing trend of violence towards women being covered in the news, but yet the government seems to have turned a blind eye to this issue.
And it is against this backdrop that I think it is unfortunate to learn that the police are considering filing charges against Ms. Ameen in this matter, simply because they don’t consider their intervention to be warranted in this matter. But based on the history of police refusing to respond to reports of domestic violence, the question then becomes when is police action necessary in their minds? Because part of police intervention is mediation and de-escalation of violent behaviour, and not all matters require the filing of formal charges. This is why the law allows the victim to decide whether or not charges should be filed in these types of matters. So for any police officer to consider their intervention as a waste of time and resources simply because they are not filing charges in an incident only further demonstrates their misunderstanding of their duties.
Now I am not a woman. I have never been a woman and I will never be a woman, so I will never know how a woman’s mind works. But in the current climate, I understand the anxiety that many women have in treating with men who demonstrate aggressive and hostile tendencies, and who might feel threatened in certain circumstances. And in those circumstances in which a woman might feel intimidated to the point where she thinks that her health and well-being might be in jeopardy, is it not better for the police to respond to this distress and prevent an unfortunate outcome rather than ignore it, only for a headline to be produced the following day?
This level of victim shaming is the reason that many women are more afraid to call the police in instances of domestic violence and why so many of them end in tragedy. We should all be thankful that Ms. Ameen was able to escape the situation alive and well, and able to return to her home where she has to take care of a young child who is dependent upon her. That said, if charges are filed against Ms. Ameen, this will undoubtedly have an impact on women across the nation who are already distrustful and disillusioned with the police service in terms of their own safety and this will only lead to more women being unable to escape their abusers, simply because they are being told not to actively avoid seeking help from those in authority tasked with protecting them.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that there may also be a political element to this matter and the actions of the police service, and if that is the case, then it is doubly disturbing as the TTPS remains in the hands of its first female Commissioner, who you would think might have more understanding in these types of cases.
Best regards,
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj