Jigawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Bello Abdulkadir Fanini, has raised concern over societal stigmatization of rape victims which hinders prosecution of suspects.
Fanini stated this while reacting on the recent rape cases struck out by the Jigawa State High Court over the failure of the victims to appear before the court to give their testimonies.
DAILY POST reported that about four rape cases was recently struck out based on the provisions of Section 392(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) – after several adjournments without the prosecution presenting witnesses.
Fanini said, “In the last two weeks three of our cases were struck out by the court and the fourth one was discharged and acquitted and in all the cases the judges blame the prosecution for not proving the cases beyond reasonable doubt.
“One of the cases is a case of rape of 14 year old girl; the incident happened in 2022 and the parents went to police station and complained but unfortunately when the case came up they refused to come to the court for hearing.
“They failed to show up to give evidence and testify; they said the lady got a suitor and they want to marry her so they don’t want anything that will tarnish her image and affect that marriage. Because of that they did not come to testify and after five adjournments approved by the law the case was struck out.
”; The other cases are for armed robbery and rape where the main suspects have jumped bail and victims said they will not come to court to testify against the third defendant whose name was mentioned by the primary suspects.
“And the only evidence we have is a statement by the defendant who has jumped bail, therefore the court has no option but to declare that we did not prove our case beyond reasonable doubt and the suspect was discharged and acquitted.”;
Fanini added, “This problem is actually the problem of our society, it tells who we are. We don’t accept victims of rape, we stigmatize them. The situation where parents are apprehensive that if she comes out to testify before court she will be stigmatized and will not be married.
“I would like to call on our society to stop stigmatizing victims of violence against persons. It’s an accident that happened. They need to be sympathized with. If these situations continue and courts continue to discharge the suspects, the society is helping in giving the suspects opportunity to continue with their crimes.”;
He therefore called all relevant stakeholders to advocate for the end of stigmatization of victims and stop being apprehensive to come out and testify in court.
“Society must come together and rally around to stop the menace otherwise we are causing great harm to our society.”;
He therefore advised courts to exercise their discretion judiciously.
He added that presently, the Ministry of Justice have over 300 pending cases where the defendants are nowhere to be found.
Fanini a committee was constituted, headed by the Chief Judge, to look at the state’s laws and their implementation.
The committee will work to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.
