Uganda: Mukasa and Another v Attorney-General (2008) AHRLR 248 (UgHC 2008)
[9.] She was taken to Kireka police post, where the Chairman handed over the items he had
taken from the first applicant’s house and again referred to her as ‘this creature’. The Officer in
Charge asked her whether she is male or female. Despite her saying that she is female, the OC
ordered her to undress and to confirm her sex. She was forcibly undressed in the full glaze of
the OC Kireka. The OC then roughly proceeded to fondle her breasts. This was not only
humiliating but also amounted to sexual harassment and indecent assault.
[10.] While at Kireka police post, the Chairman, the LDU soldiers and other persons jeered at
her and ridiculed her and humiliated her. The LC1 chairman then said that he did not want
people like her in his area, and menacingly threatened them with eviction. She asked for her
lawyer as if she had committed any crime, but her request was maliciously dismissed and
laughed at. The OC then asked her what kind of job Ms Mukasa, the first applicant does. She
replied that Ms Mukasa is a human rights activist and that the documents and the property
confiscated were hers. The Chairman then demanded and took the keys to Ms Mukasa’s home
from her. One LDU soldier said she should spend the night at the police post, but the OC
released her without writing or signing any document, a fact she questioned but to no avail.
Instead the OC ordered her to return the following day with the first applicant.
[11.] The first applicant deponed that she was a tenant of rented premises at Kireka, a Kampala
city suburb. The second applicant was her visitor. On 20 July 2005 at about 8 pm she returned
home to find her house was padlocked from outside.
[12.] The second applicant was no where in sight. This was strange because she expected her
visit or to be at home at that time and to lock the house from inside. Upon inquiry from the
neighbours, they didn’t know the second applicant’s whereabouts. She began searching the
local establishments in the area to find out if anyone had seen the second applicant. She then
noticed that the Chairman was seated some distance away.
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