Educated women should come out in the open against sexual assaults regardless of the religion that the victim belongs to, said Mumbai High Court advocate and social activist Flavia Agnes.
Speaking on ‘crime against women’ at a seminar on ‘Issues and Concerns: Way Ahead’ here on Friday, Ms. Agnes said it was unfortunate that the issue of assault on women was raised following the sexual assault on a nun in West Bengal. Ms. Agnes said that in a majority of rape cases, the woman had been subjected to sexual assault by persons known to her. Speaking on ‘Constitution and Minorities’, P.D. Sebastian, Principal of SDM Law College, Mangaluru, said that State governments over the years had continued to target institutions run by minority communities.
He said a lot of restrictions were being enforced on institutions and they were not allowed to educate people from the community in the way they wanted. The institutions were not allowed to appoint teachers of their choice, he said. Former Director General of Police F.T.R. Colaso, Director of Vimukthi Vinod Mascarenhas, and Head of Department of Psychology of St. Agnes College Elsie Tarien made presentations.
