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Candle light vigil held for missing domestic violence victim
A candlelight vigil organized by the Caribbean American Domestic Violence Association (CADVA) was held to
Babita Sarjou
commemorate the four- year disappearance of domestic violence victim Babita Sarjuou
The illuminated procession began at Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown and ended at Sheriff Street in the vicinity of the seawall, early Tuesday night.
The walk retraced Sarjou’s last known journey before her disappearance in 2010.
Sarjou went missing the night before Diwali when she, her estranged husband and then four-year-old son went out to view the motorcade procession. She promised her mother, Champna Seenarine that she would return home before the end of the night.
Relatives of the missing woman recalled that she had a troubled marriage. She was physically and emotionally abused by her husband who would also threaten her. Sarjou’s husband was arrested and held for 72 hours after she disappeared but the case against him was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
After years of receiving no closure in the Sarjou case, CADVA is hoping that they will be able to reopen investigations. Participants of the vigil carried lit candles and placards demanding justice for the missing woman. Sarjou’s still bereaved mother was also part of the procession.
At the vigil, Seernarine related that she did not know the extent of her daughter’s abuse until it was too late to do anything. To this day Seenarine still feels responsible for her disappearance, since she feels that she could have done more to save her daughter.
The woman appealed to mothers everywhere to pick up on signs that their children maybe in an abusive relationship. She urged them to take immediate action to prevent it from escalating.
Participants at the vigil for Babita Sarjou.
Dianne Madray, Chief Operations and Programme Director of CADVA, reaffirmed her organization’s commitment to achieving justice for Sarjou and many women like her.
“We at CADVA, along with Babita’s family, can assure you that we will not give up until we know what happened to Babita,” said Madray. She urged for organizations that advocate for human rights to support this cause, since no form of domestic violence should be imposed on any person.
In an effort to reopen the case, the CADVA director related that she along with other supporters had a meeting with a Divisional Commander of the Guyana Police Force to file a statement to bring the case back to court.
She reiterated that cases such as Neesa Gopaul, Ngozi Goodman and Babita Sarjou should never be overlooked and that closure is needed for all these women.
Also part of the procession was political activist Mark Benschop and leader of the opposition party an Alliance For Change, Khemraj Ramjattan. Both men stood in solidarity with CADVA’s initiatives.
According to Ramjattan, many of Guyana’s missing person cases go unsolved because of legislative and forensic limitations.
Recently, CADVA announced a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the discovery of Babita Sarjou.
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