Human Rights Groups Condemn Assault On Woman Accused of Stealing in Ghana

Gender activists and right groups have condemned the assault on a yet-to-be identified woman accused of stealing in Kumasi, Ghana.

Kumasi Central Business District traders in the Ashanti region of Ghana stripped naked and viciously assaulted an unidentified woman, reports Joy News.

The woman, alleged to be a Nigerian, was accused in conflicting reports of stealing either money or a tuber of yam.

The disturbing video [Warning: footage is very disturbing] of the ugly incident has since emerged on various social media platforms.

Footage of the amateur video shows the young lady being stripped of her clothes by a mob made up almost entirely of men. A good Samaritan then offers the lady a scarf to cover her modesty, but it is again yanked off by the irate mob.

The men proceed to shred her undies and hit her on the buttocks, while some perverts even grope her breasts. In their unrelenting assault, the men spread her legs open and kick her multiple times on her genitals.

Attempts by the lady to shield herself from the blows of the mob are then met with even more vicious kicks.

Gender activists say the crude and degrading treatment meted out to the woman is perhaps reflective of the larger society’s conduct toward women. Condemning the mob’s action, Ark Foundation Executive Director Angela Dwamena Aboagye said the attack amounted to violence against women.

“Look at the manner in which they purported to arrest her — they stripped her — and look at the acts of violence that were perpetuated against her. When it comes to women, this also sits within not just a social justice framework or criminal law framework, but within violence against women which is completely a human rights issue as well,” Aboagye said.

Human rights lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu urged Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to step up its education of human rights to curb abuses even as Ghana joined the rest of the world to observe Social Justice Day last Thursday.

Defending their actions, some traders who spoke to Joy News said it was typical practice to force persons (male or female) accused of stealing to parade naked around the marketplace.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Kumasi say they are currently investigating the incident and have arrested some suspects in connection with the sad event.