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LAST week, a policewoman, Inspector Olorunsogo Bamidele, was reportedly battered by her boss, a senior male police officer, for allegedly refusing to acquiesce to his amorous advances. According to the alleged victim, the male police officer was miffed by her temerity to keep the fidelity of her marital vows rather than succumbing to his ignoble and immoral request, and he reportedly went physical with her. And at the end of the vicious attack, there were bruises all over her body as telltales of the assailant’s barbarous act.
To be sure, a male police officer is not allowed to batter a policewoman even if her offence was failure to carry out lawful orders. There is a procedure for sanctioning erring subordinates, and no decent man raises his hands against a woman in this day and age. That is why Inspector Bamidele’s allegations must be looked into dispassionately. This incident, unless and until it is controverted, was cruel and bizarre. However, those who are familiar with what goes on in the police, not to mention the other uniformed services, say that sexual harassment is a common occurrence in the force and that some undisciplined and unscrupulous male police officers are in the habit of literally turning their married and unmarried female subordinates into sex objects. Policewomen who choose to stay within the precincts of decency and morality may have to contend with a backlash which could be hardship or unfavorable postings, delayed promotion, denial of certain privileges and so on. That is the extent some misfits in the police force can allegedly go to coerce their female juniors to do their shameful bidding.
In the instant case, the harasser was accused of taking the penalty rejection a notch higher by inflicting corporal punishment and grievous bodily injury on his ‘recalcitrant’ subordinate. The victim was even allegedly stripped naked while the show of shame lasted. This, if established to be true, will be another example of violence against women. This revelation is quite disturbing and gives the impression that the rot in the police is not just limited to its personnel brutalising ordinary citizens at the slightest of provocation or none at all, as well as pervasive extortion of money from motorists and other forms of sleaze on the highways, streets and police stations. It also includes the proverbial chickens feasting on each other’s visceral organs. For a public institution that has continually struggled to burnish its image, this incident is bad publicity. It is time the police authorities carried out the necessary and critical reforms and threw decadent personnel out of the service.
If Bamidele’s narrative regarding her boss’s indiscretion is proved, then he is not only guilty of aggravated assault but also of attempted rape. Why destroy somebody’s marriage with your lust? Certainly, many women in the force could be suffering in silence and it would be apposite for the authorities to encourage such policewomen to come forward to tell their stories. They have nothing to be ashamed of. The shame actually belongs to those who took advantage of their positions to violate them. The question of how a sexual harasser can handle sexual harassment by members of the public is a valid concern. Also, how focused on policing job a depraved officer can be is yet another salient question. The authorities should do the needful, and speedily too, by weeding out the bad eggs from the system and prosecuting offenders.
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The police as an institution should be a refuge for those who have complaints and reports of sexual harassment and violence; it should not be a cesspit of corruption, and the worst form of immorality such as sexual assaults and violence against the vulnerable ones in the society. That is antithetical to the raison d’etre for its existence. It is nonetheless gratifying that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Alkali Usman Baba, has ordered prompt investigation into the case, and we expect nongovernmental and civil society organisations to be vigilant and show interest in the case. We also urge the officers saddled with the responsibility of investigating the incident to do a thorough job and, if the allegation is proved beyond reasonable doubt, refuse to fall for the temptation to invoke esprit de corps to exonerate the alleged undisciplined officer who has obviously tarnished the image of the force. If, on the other hand, the allegations are controverted, then Inspector Bamidele must be charged with character assassination.
It is also crucial to ensure that this dastardly incident is not swept under the carpet so that the appropriate punishment can be meted out to discourage indiscipline and criminality in the force.
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