The Foundation for Human Rights said on Monday it would take steps to ensure that Judge Siraj Desai and his alleged rape victim, 26-year-old Salome Isaacs, would be provided with the appropriate support.
The foundation’s board of trustees said that, at the same time, it would allow the law to take its course.
The foundation partly funded members of a South African delegation to the World Social Forum gathering in India, where it is alleged Desai raped Isaacs.
Both are members of the South African delegation in Mumbai and Desai is also deputy chairperson of the foundation’s board.
Foundation director Yasmin Sooka said: ”This is an incredibly difficult experience for the foundation. The foundation funds people’s trips to a number of national and international events.
There is simply no precedent on how to handle a case such as this. We are trying to be fair to both parties.”
Because the delegation was partly funded by the foundation, it would assist both complainant and accused with living and legal expenses while they are in India.
The foundation has also offered to provide an early flight back to South Africa for the woman, so that she could be reunited with her family and, if necessary, receive trauma counselling.
Board member Dumisa Ntsebeza had also been attending the Mumbai meeting and was assisting with arrangements on the foundation’s behalf.
The foundation said it could not pre-judge the matter and was waiting for more information on the case.
Desai has indicated that he wishes to withdraw from foundation’s activities until such time as he has dealt with the alleged rape, the statement concluded.
The Times of India‘s website reported on Tuesday that Isaacs’s husband, Mark, said she had apparently pleaded with Desai to use a condom.
The website said when Isaacs phoned her on her cellphone at about 1am (Indian time) after the alleged attack, Salome, who was in Desai’s room at the time, was in a state of shock and told him that she had been raped.
Isaacs said he had spoken to Desai and demanded an apology for ”what he had done”.
”He denied that anything happened and said we could sort things out once they were back in South Africa. He said they only had drinks. When I told him that I would kill him if he had raped my wife, he said he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He put the phone down in my ear,” Isaacs was quoted as saying by the website.
Mumbai police have confiscated his wife’s clothes, underwear and a used condom on Sunday morning.
Kaizer Kganyago, South African Justice Department spokesperson, said on Tuesday that the Justice Minister, Penuell Maduna, wanted to get all the facts before making a statement. He said that the department would let the law take its course.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that 53-year-old Desai was arrested on Monday and denied bail in a Mumbai court. He was remanded in custody until Friday.
The story was prominent in the South African media on Monday. Desai allegedly sent a text message to the The Star newspaper saying he was not guilty.
”I am innocent. I find rape offensive,” he said.
The alleged victim, in her statement to police, said Desai raped her after she went to his room about 3am Sunday at the Taj President hotel in Mumbai’s upmarket Cuff Parade area to discuss the day’s programme at the World Social Forum, an Indian police spokesperson said.
Mumbai police said both had been medically examined to establish sexual contact.
About 100 000 people are taking part in the World Social Forum, an annual meeting of anti-globalisation forces that began on Friday and is discussing issues ranging from the environment to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
”The incident has saddened and shocked us and we are doing everything to see that the person concerned is not hurt further and everything is done to take care of her,” forum spokesperson Gautam Mody said.
”The World Social Forum is committed to fight such patriarchy,” he said.
Isaacs, who is representing a South African HIV/Aids organisation at the forum, was quoted in ThisDay newspaper as saying that Desai ”came on very strongly” when she went to his room.
”There was a lot of kissing and holding … and there was a point where I wanted him to back off but he continued. There was a definite ‘no’ … the result was that there was sex without consent.”
In an interview with The Star, Isaacs’s husband, speaking from South Africa, claimed he had spoken to Desai after the supposed rape and told him ”this would bring shame on South Africa”.
He claimed that he had asked Desai to apologise but the judge had turned him down saying ”there was nothing to forgive and they were just having drinks”.
South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said it would follow up the allegations.
Meanwhile, the co-leader of the political party National Action, Cassie Aucamp, said that the incident was at the least a ”huge embarrassment” to South Africa.
”Whether there is a case of rape or not, it remains deplorable that late-night escapades in hotel rooms where drink and sex and used condoms were involved, were ascribed to visiting South Africans.” – Sapa