Police Man disparages woman
 who complains against husband

The camel’s back finally broke and the woman decided to file a complaint against her husband at the police station, for she was no longer able to bear the torture that she met with at his hands: beatings, insults, and belittlement that she never knew might one day be the end of her.  So she decided to report her husband and depend on God to provide for her, for the husband never lost an opportunity to beat her, with cause or without it, within the hearing of every neighbour, and there was no escape for the helpless woman except the police station.  She called the police so that they might find a solution for her with this husband undeterred by any consideration of morals or the law.  In turn, the police sent her an officer, an expert in customs and traditions and the members of the “weaker sex”!

When “His Grace” arrived, the latest round of struggle was still raging fiercely and the neighbours were still gathered around in order to rescue her from between the arms of the husband.  The officer’s overwhelming disdain for the complaint was extremely clear. How could a rational woman complain of her husband and benefactor, even if “he flayed her skin and her blood were upon the wall”?  By this logic, the officer was attempting to resolve the issue!  After calling the woman some abominable things, he continued:   “Who among us does not beat his wife, his sister, his daughter?  Who among us did not see his father beat his mother?  Until this woman comes and complains… if she were a lawful girl, she would not have dared to do so, and she would not have disgraced her husband.”

Imagine this logic!  And from whom?  From a man charged with enforcing the law and protecting those who resort to this pitiful law…  Then, picture how proud he was of his superiority when he was watching his mother being beaten by his father, or when he was beating his wife and his sister and his daughter…!

When we hear of such stories, of such events that befall women and the position of the law or of those who enforce it…how, after that, can the woman trust in it or in those who apply and enforce it?  And how confident can she be of obtaining her rights, or in the protection of her humanity? 

Is it not yet time to establish a “special family police” unit, dedicated to dealing with family issues and providing a high level of rehabilitation, so that such issues are not thrown into the hands of ignorant people who are still living a century or more ago?  Is it not appalling that right becomes wrong and logic a disgrace in the hands of someone who is supposed to strive to apply the law and justice?

Is it not attitudes like these that induce women to abandon the quest for their rights, and to fear resorting to the police, permitting some men to continue their acts of aggression towards their wives unchecked?  Is it not such attitudes that keep women from reporting acts of aggression against them?  And are they not the source of a missed opportunity for those who demand the cessation of domestic violence in all its forms, resulting in the continued existence of violence against women in our society?  This was but one incident, but it is repeated throughout our lives thousands of times.  This time it came from the mouth of a policeman, but there are other times in which it is reiterated by other people, who continue even to this day to partake of concepts and values obliterated by time