The Ekiti State Government has urged the state House of Assembly to rework the Gender-Based Violence Law (GBV) to carry more stringent capital punishment such as medical castration of rapists and defilers.
This, according to it, would be an addition to life jail-term prescribed in the law.
The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wale Fapohunda, who stated this at the public hearing organised by the House Committee on Women Affairs of the Ekiti House of Assembly yesterday, said the amendment into the bill sought to include medical castration, compulsory psychiatric test and disqualification of offenders from benefiting from any government prerogative of mercy granted to convicts.
The wife of the governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, who was at the public hearing, said the amendment of the Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, 2011, to include further capital punishments, would deter the perpetrators of the crime.
She said her office had been overwhelmed with complaints bordering on all forms of violence, particularly against women since 2018, hence the amendment of the bill becomes imperative to give the victims voices and for offenders to be held accountable.
The First Lady added that the best form of injustice in any society is for offenders to be let off the hook without justifiable reasons, assuring that strengthening the law will ensure punishment for violators and allow people to take ownership.
“To make the law effective, we are going to decentralise the referral centres and all the local councils will have one each. You don’t need to come to the state capital before lodging your complaints.
“The GVB management committee has been brought back to attend to complaints. I feel distressed to hear when we returned last year that the committee did not meet for four years after we left.
“I am not the owner of the law, but for men and women in Ekiti State. We only championed it. It is to protect us, our family and society against all forms of discrimination so that we can all live a life of respect and dignity.
“Violence against women keeps increasing in Ekiti. We appeal to the House to pass this law expeditiously.”
Speaker of the House, Funminiyi Afuye and Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, Adekemi Balogun, said the law, when amended, would elevate gender issues to human rights in the state.
Afuye said there was a need for people to be proactive to ensure that gender-based violence is banished in Ekiti State.
