In April 2010, a young Priya Manickchand piloted and saw the passage of the Sexual Offences Bill. A piece of legislation that has resulted in increased justice for rape victims. As the one who championed the bill, Manickchand was hard-pressed to dismissed questions posed this morning about the case involving Fizal Karimbaksh, the Deputy Commissioner of Police accused of rape. Manickchand was asked her opinion on the handling of the matter; particularly regarding the facts that he remains on the job and the investigation seem stalled.
While she did not dismiss the question entirely, Manickchand refused to comment specifically on Karimbaksh’s case saying that it is “current”.
However, she noted that laws are not passed in a vacuum. When countries determine there is a problem, they look to the legislator for resolutions. As a result, laws are passed with the hope that once implemented, offences will lessen.”
Manickchand told a boardroom full of reporters that there is therefore no need to rely on her person opinion on any particular person or matter.
She reiterated that laws are crafted based on the problems needed to be fixed. One of the problems she said was identified as needing a solution was the length of time it took for matters to be investigated noting that the delays became a deterrent to complainants.
Manickchand said that that issue was addressed in the Sexual Offences Act, “within a certain time of a complaint being made, police and DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) must take certain actions or not but a complaint must be responded to within a certain time.”
The former Minister of Human Services said that the law and all its provisions must be implemented across the board adding that “once a complaint is made under any law, particularly laws like these, they should be rigorously investigated in a timely manner.
