Computer Science teacher, Kishore Kumar says he will hand over the evidence he has about NFP Parliamentarian Lenora Qereqeretabua to Police and he will also write to the President Jioji Konrote, Speaker of Parliament Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and the Acting Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu however Qereqeretabua says she is waiting to find out what Police and the Education Ministry are doing about this alleged criminal.
As Kumar continues to make the porn claims against Qereqeretabua, the NFP parliamentarian says a man by the name of Kishore Kumar of Clifton Road, Kalabu was charged with three counts of criminal trespassing, indecently assaulting a woman and criminal intimidation in 2018.
Qereqeretabua says she will wait for CID, Ministry of Education and the Online Safety Commission to respond to their complaints against this alleged criminal.
However Kishore Kumar says he believes no honourable member should be involved in pornography and he has video evidence.
He also claims that a Member of the Opposition came to him when Suva was on a lockdown and handed him a video tape which he had to convert to MP4.
Kumar says the reason why the video had to be converted is because Qereqeretabua had cursed the members of the FijiFirst and their children, and Kumar says he is related to some members of the FijiFirst so he was included in the curse.
The teacher says he has a investigative research intelligence network team that are connected to all political parties in Fiji.
The civil servant also questioned Qereqeretabua why it took them three months to file a report to the Ministry of Education as she filed a report against him to Police in August.
He says this is not the first time he has been investigated but he is standing his ground that whatever he is investigating is of great concern to the people.
Kumar questioned the women’s human rights groups why they did not speak out when the Government was trying to remove former Minister for Lands Ashneel Sudhakar for sexual harassment allegations.
We have asked Police on the status of the investigation against Kumar after Qereqeretabua filed the complaint in August. We have also asked Police about Kumar's other charges and the status of that case in 2018.
Spokesperson, Ana Naisoro will provide an update after speaking to the CID.
We have also asked the Minister for Education, Rosy Akbar. She has said that the Human Resources Department is investigating the complaint. No further comments have been made.
Meanwhile, women’s human rights groups have stated that they are disgusted and appalled at the misogynistic attacks made by Kishore Kumar on social media against female members of Parliament and strongly condemn this act of violence and cyber-bullying.
The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, femLINKpacific and the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement are calling for investigations from the relevant authorities, including the Fiji Police Force, the Human Rights and Anti Discrimination Commission and the Online Safety Commission.
Crisis Centre Coordinator, Shamima Ali says the Online Safety Commission should not sit silently when these crimes continue to happen almost on a daily basis. Ali says raising awareness about cyberbullying is one thing, but the enforcement of the law is equally important.
Ali says the silence is deafening from women MPs from both sides of the House.
She says this is when solidarity is important.
The women’s groups say the social media commentator on his Facebook page, Kishore Kumar Publications, has made several public videos vilifying and defaming female members of parliament.
They say the public posts contain abusive and sexually derogatory remarks against certain women members of parliament.
The groups call for urgent action to condemn all forms of violence and discrimination against women and address the disturbing series of attacks from Kumar.
Shamima Ali says this is often how men discourage, deter and malign younger women and women in all their diversities from political participation and national discussions at all levels. Ali says such comments on an open public platform are not only detrimental for women but pose great risks to their safety and national participation.
She says this is a great example of cyberbullying, harassment and hate speech.
femLINKpacific Executive Director, Susan Naisara Grey says this repeated and targeted acts of psychological violence including character attacks, cyberbullying and harassment, on Lenora Qereqeretabua and other female members of Parliament, must also be condemned by all parties and the State, with further action to be taken.
Grey says they condemn the violence, which includes all forms of aggression, coercion and intimidation against women as political actors, which is one of the most serious hurdles to women’s full and equal political participation.
FWRM Executive Director Nalini Singh says there must be no impunity for violence against women, including within the cyber and virtual space.
Singh says it is unacceptable that Kishore Kumar is allowed to continue making targeted sexist attacks that are discriminatory, abusive and defamatory against women and there have been no repercussions for his action.
She says there must be better standards set by the Ministry of Education for educators as they play such a significant role for young people and children.
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