NUDE PHOTOS UPROAR
Police investigate possible rape, defilement of schoolgirl More calls for Online Safety Bill immediately
There is uproar from the authorities, from a Cabinet minister, the Director of Fiji Human Rights Commission, NGOs and Police, about the sharing of nude pictures circulated recently on social media.
The pictures show a female student from a prominent school in the Central Division naked from the waist down and lying on a grassy patch. Two other pictures show the same girl hugging a bare-chested male. Outraged by the news, the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Mereseini Vuniwaqa said: “This is the very mischief that the Online Safety
Bill 2018 aims to address and the reason why it is so critical that it is brought into law.
“It also brings to the fore the need to educate our children about the basic tenets of trust, honesty, decency and respect for one another.” The nude pictures surfaced on the Facebook Messenger App two weeks ago and they continue to be circulated on Facebook by people who were posting comments. Under the Crimes Decree, pornographic material is referred to as obscene matter and any distribution is illegal.
It further states: “If you store any adult or pornography materials on your computer or any portable drives and if you share that then it becomes an additional criminal offence and if you use it to gain profit or solicit further income then it becomes a criminal offence under the crimes decree in Fiji.” Ashwin Raj, the director of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission said the circulation of these nude images “…attests to the significance of urgently passing the Online Safety Bill, which is before the Justice, Law and Human Rights Standing Committee into an Act of Parliament because the Bill sets out a mechanism in place to seek remedy for those who are vulnerable and susceptible to abuse and bullying on social media, including our women and children. It is not only a morally repugnant act that is an assault on the dignity and a breach of the right to privacy, but a criminal act. This must not be confused with arguments about censorship and suppression of freedom of expression.”
The Director of the Fiji Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Senior Superintendent Mesake Waqa, said they were now proceeding with the investigation.
“We are running on the line of rape as alleged by the victim herself. And alleged defilement because she is 14 years old,” SSP Waqa said.
Shamima Ali, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre co-ordinator, said there was too much of this happening. “Young women should not trust anyone because when these things happen, women get blamed for it,” Ms Ali said. “I think this has more to do with those people who put up these photos. We need to look at who are these people and we need to have them brought to task. “Women and young women should never to get in a position where someone can take your pictures because you just can’t trust anyone.”
Police Director of Operations Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Maretino Qiolevu is calling on parents and the general public to be “more responsible and matured”. “If anyone is seen and proven to be doing this, we will take the culprit to justice,” AACP Qiolevu said. “To the parents, we have a very big responsibility in monitoring what our children are doing with their telephones and the internet. “We need to be talking to them and advising them because when something like this happens it brings shame to the family.” Minister Vuniwaqa believes parental guidance and support was now critical at this time for both parties.