Don't give abusers a second chance

DURING a recent interview Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare Ministry Secretary Sita Rajapaksa said that a decision has been taken to review the Women's Rights Bill before presenting it in Parliament. The main reason behind this decision is giving a second chance to husbands before going in for a court procedure.

Violence against women is rising rapidly day by day and some parts of society have raised their voices against this. Some legal procedures are also at work to strengthen the existing laws to protect women.

But still there is strong opposition to those efforts from certain individuals and groups who are aiming at personal goals. When considering these facts `bringing in new laws to protect women' is a very timely topic to talk about.

According to the Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare Ministry Secretary and the Chairperson of the National Committee on Women, some parties have pointed out that it is not fair to bring the accused husbands before courts immediately.

They should be given a second chance. Those views had been revealed during different discussions held in connection with the proposed Women's Right Bill.

Some other groups have said that the new act will dissolve nuclear families which will lead to social disintegration. The bottom line of those views is all wives should tolerate all the abuse caused to them by their husbands and even should die in the name of the family!

Is it justifiable losing one of your eyes, hands, legs, job or get a permanent big black scar on your face in the name of the family? Opposing anything proposed to protect women without good reason has become a normal practice in Sri Lanka.

There is nothing wrong in giving abusive husbands a second chance to become responsible husbands who honour their wives' human rights. But there is a limit to everything. In Sri Lanka some husbands abuse their wives for no reason.

Most of the victim wives do not open their mouths and bear all the pain just because they love their parents and their children more than anything else in this world. What we should do is not give 'chances' to abusive husbands but provide a temporary shelter to wives who make complaints against them.

After publishing an article about State run Women's Complaints Centres, a 58 years old wife from Ratmalana called the journalist who wrote the article asking directions to the nearest Women's Complaints Centre.

She also stated that she has been undergoing severe abuse for the last 30 years and lost one eye! How about giving a second chance to that type of husband who tortured his wife for about 30 odd years.

In Sri Lanka, an abortion can be performed legally, only when the mother's life is in danger and even in that instance two specialised doctors have to sign for this purpose. An abortion cannot be performed when a girl (even when she is a child) gets pregnant due to raping or incest or when a mother carries an abnormal foetus.

In the past a Cabinet paper was approved in this regard and it was withdrawn at the very last moment before presenting it in Parliament due to strong opposition by a few parliamentarians, handful of preachers and few persons who pretended that they are the saviours of Sri Lankan women.

Even some politicians who were responsible for 'women's well-being' opposed the bill saying that it will promote free sexual activities among women and they will go for abortions whenever they get pregnant due to their `indecent' behaviour. The bill faced a natural death.

This is the attitude of some people in Sri Lanka towards women who are more than half the total population of this country. This negative attitude of a handful of women has created a huge obstacle to introducing new legislation for the safety of Sri Lankan women.

We should not let the same fate befall the proposed Women's Right Bill. The time has come to stop this 'underhand operation' carried out by a handful of persons suffering from an undiscovered mental disorder.