Gender Coordination Network (GCN) a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) has called on government to act proximately on the allegations that police officers attacked and did unthinkable at Msundwe following the death of a police officer.
On October 8, there were running battles in Msundwe between the police and the locals which resulted into the death of a police officer, Superintendent Usumani Imedi.
It is believed that on October 9 police officers raided the community raping, defiling, and torturing of innocent women and girls in and around Msundwe, M’bwatalika and Mpingu Trading Centres in Lilongwe.
In a press statement signed by chairperson Barbara Banda and national coordinator Joseph Njala, the network says while it is cognizant of the noble mandate that the police have and also supports the rational premise that justice has to be rightly satisfied through tracing, apprehending and prosecuting all those that participated in killing a police officer at Msundwe on October 8 this year, it finds the police action on the following day unacceptable.
An investigation by the network reveals that some of the police officers as dispatched to the areas on Wednesday, October 9, 2019, raped women, defiled self-boarding girl students, tortured people, and looted private property.
Adding more weight to the statement, Women Legal Resources Centre (Wolrec) executive director Maggie Kathewera-Banda said she finds the action that was taken by the police to be unfortunate, unacceptable, and horrible and a total violation of women’s rights.
She called upon all relevant authorities to act on the issue adding that her organization will do anything possible to make sure that the perpetrators are brought to book.
