956 case of domestic violence reported to FWCC in 2024, Ali says police treat cases trivially

Alarming statistics have been revealed by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, with 1513 new cases that came to their branches around Fiji for counselling between January and December 2024.

FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali highlighted this during a press conference saying 956 of them were domestic violence cases which she believes is under reported.

Ali says they have had many cases over the years where women have been harmed because the Police did not keep the man in custody, or let the woman know that he had been released.

The Coordinator says a couple of years ago in Seaqaqa a woman was maimed, because the police released the partner because they did not have enough room on a Sunday night to put people in the cells, so let him go, and he went and chopped her leg, and that woman is limping now.

Ali says they have got police wives who are coming to them who are being pressured not to report, so all this things about the no-drop policy and so on within the police force and for people outside of the force, is all rubbish.

She says none of those things exist anymore.

The Coordinator says the Acting Commissioner should stop all the pomp and ceremony, the medal giving and so on, when they are treating women and girls and children so badly.

She says while they understand police officers are overworked and under-resourced, but they are there to do a duty. Ali says a lot of them do not know the laws, the Domestic Violence Act, and how to advise women to get a Domestic Violence Restraining Order.

She says the counselling should be there, but the counselling is often for her to go back to her husband.

The Coordinator says in some cases, the police start praying with the victim that she should go back to her husband, be a good wife and so on.

Ali says some women are reporting that they do not report domestic violence because the husbands are drug pushers and they allegedly take drugs with some of the officers.

We have sent questions to the Acting Commissioner.