AN international Women’s Day meeting at the Lautoka Girmit Centre was disrupted when a policeman tried to stop the meeting and threatened to arrest one of the organisers.
According to an article published by The Fiji Times on March 9, 1990, the event was sponsored by the Fiji Girmit Council in association with the women’s wing of the Fiji Youth and Students Association.
But the main program marking the event in Lautoka was held later in the day at Churchill Park by a group of various women’s organisations.
Pramila Devi, who chaired the program at the Girmit Centre, said the policeman twice pulled her hand at the gate and once on the stage as he tried to force her to stop the gathering.
She said the policeman continued talking to her as she welcomed the chief guest, Geeta Katju, wife of the first secretary at the Indian Embassy, Vivek Katju.
But the women pressed on and started the meeting while another volunteer, Ganesh Chand, went to Lautoka Police Station and spoke to a senior officer.
The senior officer who came and inspected the gathering, allowed proceedings to continue but Ms Devi said the incident defeated freedom of expression for women on the UN-declared International Women’s Day which was recognised by the Government.
She said the incident affected the speakers with several of them cutting short their talks and not expressing all that they wanted.
Ms Devi said the problem began when the policeman came to the gate, saying he had orders to ask her to disperse the people because there was no permit for the gathering.
She said she told him it was not a political meeting but a festival for women who had gathered to express their views on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
He told her she would be taken into custody if she did not listen to him, and harassed arriving women telling them to leave because the meeting could not go on.
Ms Devi said she told him to get a warrant first.
She got the gates closed but the policeman returned using another entrance and went onto the stage and asked that proceedings be stopped.
When the 600-strong crowd continued the meeting and did not follow his orders, the policeman went back to the patrol car parked in the grounds. The senior officer arrived later.
Police spokesman ASP Romanu Tikotikoca denied there was any manhandling.
Speakers at the gathering called on women to show unity, speak up for their rights and improve their leadership and communications abilities.
The vice-president of the Ba Zanana League, Rahmat Nisha Ali, said women should work together and ask for their rights.
Sandhya Ben Patel, representing the Gujarat Samaj, said women had a valuable role to play and should make an effort to move forward.
The secretary of the Sangam women’s organisation, Kamla Reddy, called for leadership training for girls and women.
Ms Reddy said there should also be adult education programs in villages to improve the communication abilities of women.
The vice-president of the University of the South Pacific Indian Students Association Madhu Prasad said women, while respecting menfolk, should not sit back in silence.
