A coalition of women lobby groups has petitioned South Sudan’s justice ministry demanding justice for 18-year-old Mary Akuot Agany whose eyes were gouged by her father in Warrap State a fortnight ago.
Speaking during the handing over of the petition at the Justice Ministry in Juba on Monday, Nyachang Kuoth Tai, Executive Director for Mission for Africa, a member of the women’s umbrella group United Women Against Violence and Abuse, called for the immediate prosecution of the accused for crimes of torture and attempted murder.
Kuoth further called on the Ministries of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, and Justice to expedite the formulation of the Anti-GBV Bill.
Responding to the petition, Justice Minister Ruben Madol Arol said: “Our mandate is very clear. We use the law to prosecute, and we are also required to legislate in a manner that protects and promotes the human rights of everybody as you might have marked in your petition we have an elaborate chapter on human rights in our constitution that stresses the rights of the child, rights of a woman, against torture on top of the rights to life and dignity.”
“With this, we have those very efficient legal prosecutors who have already taken notice of this particular case through the office of public prosecution and the unit concern with the support of the office of the minister, deputy minister, and the undersecretary of the ministry of justice, we have taken note of the recommendation in your petition,” he declared.
For his part, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Dr. Gabriel Isaac Awow revealed that they are making the logistical arrangement to bring the accused to Juba so that investigations and the trial are conducted.
Agany Kut Achuil, a police officer, allegedly took his daughter to a forest on 2 April and pricked her eyes because she was wayward, joined the wrong groups, eloped when she was 13, and brought shame to the family.