Parents, relatives of victims obstructing rape case judgement – Katsina CJ

 Justice Musa Danladi, the Chief Judge of Katsina State says some parents and relatives are frustrating the courts in the adjudication of rape cases by withdrawing such cases from the courts.

Danladi made this known at the launch of the State Action Plan (SAP) on women, peace and security held in Katsina.

”Unfortunately, some of the parents easily compromise while the case is ongoing by negotiating with the accused.

”Most of the cases get withdrawn midway in trial while some don not even get to the court.

”This type of action will not result in getting justice for the victims,” he said.

He gave an instance of case, where a girl was raped and the case was taken to court but before the suspect could be arraigned, the girl changed her story.

”Such unfortunate things happen because the parents or relatives have compromised by taking money from the suspect.

”Unfortunately, in every violence or conflict, women and children have been at the receiving end as victims of sexual, physical or psychological violence.

“They end up being widowed or orphaned.” We cannot allow this to continue.

”We need a strong legal frameworks put in place to check this,,” he said.

He espressed delight that with the SAP, a lot of networks are being established.

The CJ commended networks like the High Level Women Advocacy (HILWA), Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAWOWA) and the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) for being in the forefront of the issue of rape and gender violence.

He said the launch of the SAP will promptly now help all the networks and stakeholders, including the government in addressing the issue of peace and security, particularly the role of women.

The News Agency of Nigeri (NAN) reports that the federal government in 2017, developed a second National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and related resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

The federal government said the NAP provided a framework for the implementation of the resolution around five pillars, Prevention, Participation, Protection, and Peacebuilding and Recovery, to ensure effective response to women’s peace and security issues.

So far, 14 states in Nigeria have developed their SAPs on Women, Peace and Security.

The Katsina SAP was developed along five key priority areas: Protection and Prosecution; Crisis Management, Early Recovery and Post-Conflict Resolution, Participation and Representation, Prevention and Disaster Preparedness, Partnerships, Coordination and Management.