Some of those charged told Reuters they had been stigmatized as a result of the raid and a televised news conference held by police in which they were identified the day after their arrest in 2018. Another of the men said the striking out of the case would not help him to be reconciled with his family who had rejected him over the matter.
“It is clear from many lessons of history that violence does not root out violence, though it may change around who are the perpetrators and who are the victims. The challenge is to loosen the bonds of society enough that those who are oppressed are released, but the whole body of a community does not dissolve. It is to loosen, and then retie those bonds in a shape that more resembles justice.”
“‘Don’t say that. We will have another presidential election in four years. Maybe not a woman, but you will know another president.’ This spoken to an octogenarian in fragile health. I could not tolerate hopelessness in the most hopeful person I knew.”