WUNRN
FIJI - GIRL BEATEN BY VILLAGE
HEADMAN FOR WEARING PANTS
THERESA RALOGAIVAU
January 15, 2010
Clothes gone wrong ... Asenaca
Vunibola, right, with her father Tui and mother Sala after her traumatic
experience at Naqai outside Labasa yesterday.
A 16-YEAR-OLD girl is
in shock after she was punched and beaten with a stick by her village headman
for wearing a singlet and three-quarter pants.
But police in the Northern
Division yesterday backed the girl's right not be assaulted over the clothes
she wore.
The incident happened at midday
yesterday at
The police confirmed Asenaca
Vunibola was leaving the village for town with her mother when the headman,
Naisa Tagiwavoli, confronted her.
Children playing nearby confirmed
witnessing Mr Tagiwavoli assault Ms Vunibola with a stick as she lay on the
ground trying to ward off the blows.
Mr Tagiwavoli admitted to the
Fiji Times he beat the girl, saying she had broken the village dress code for
females and had "talked back" at him.
"I also did that to teach
her a lesson because, as daughter of the turaga ni Yavusa of Naqai, who is my
elder brother, she couldn't be breaking the law while other girls were abiding
by it," Mr Tagiwavoli said.
"There are village laws that
have been approved by the police and the provincial council and these must be
respected."
But police spokesman Sergeant
Suliano Tevita said the headman had no legal authority to beat up anyone to
enforce village laws.
Ms Vunibola, who suffered
bruises, said she was shocked when her uncle pounced on her as her mother Sala
stood helplessly by.
"I can't believe I was
beaten up over what I was wearing," she said. "He slapped me and
punched me in the back before hitting me with a stick.
"Times have changed and they
are trying to enforce the traditional way of dressing which is hard for the
young generation to accept."
Ms Vunibola's father, Tui
Vunibola, said he accepted there were village laws to be respected and followed
but that did not mean assaulting people to enforce them.
"There are avenues that can
be followed and what he did was just unacceptable," Mr Vunibola said.
Ms Vunibola was taken to
Village elder Vilikesa Raitiqa
said women were forbidden to wear pants, vests or sleeveless tops in public.
"And yet women break these
laws, so they need to be enforced," he said."What they wear outside
the village is their business."
The police are monitoring
developments in the village as tensions flare over the issue.
Last week, Labasa police also
looked into complaints that police officers were dictating to residents the
kind of clothes to wear.
In response, Inspector Atu
Sokomuri said the police had no role in deciding what people wore.
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