JK Rowling has demanded the board of a rape crisis centre resign en masse after its transgender chief executive was found to have “damaged” trust among users of the charity.
Mridul Wadhwa stepped down from the role at the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) yesterday after an independent report found the centre had failed to “put survivors first” or protect women-only spaces.
Rowling and other high profile women have accused the centre of having prioritised “ideology” over the protection of women and said those who defended Wadhwa should stand down from their roles.
The independent review was organised after a tribunal found that former worker at the ERCC, Roz Adams, was unfairly dismissed from her position after she expressed gender-critical views.
Adams said that those using the services should be able to know the sex of the staff that deals with their cases, after an abuse survivor asked whether her non-binary support worker was a man or a woman.
She subsequently suffered harassment and discrimination after she expressed her gender-critical opinions, and an employment tribunal judge found that Adams was subjected to a “heresy hunt” after not “fully subscribing to the gender ideology” championed by the ERCC’s bosses.
Rowling wrote on social media: “Mridul Wadhwa is gone from Edinburgh Rape Crisis.
“He should have been fired the moment he said that survivors who wanted a female-only space were bigots who should ‘reframe their trauma’.
“Those who appointed, enabled and protected Wadhwa remain in post.”
She added: “The Government continues to fund a service dominated by ideologues, vulnerable women have been denied help, and Brindley and Wadhwa continue to draw their salaries.”
Her calls were echoed by former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies who demanded: “The people who put a man in charge of a women’s rape crisis centre and fought to keep him there must also go.”
Wadhwa’s appointment as chief executive in 2021 sparked controversy with outrage being then caused when the 46-year-old suggested in a podcast later that year that rape victims who wanted a female counsellor were “bigots”.
In a statement released after the independent report, the ECRR board said: “We recognise that we got things wrong. We are sorry.
“We are committed to putting things right and implementing the recommendations in the report.”
It added: “We are committed to delivering excellence while taking on board the recommendations from the independent review to ensure we place survivors’ voices at the heart of our strategy.
“We are in daily communication with Rape Crisis Scotland, have met their urgent demands, and are currently implementing the recommendations in the report.
“We will continue to work alongside RCS to ensure our services not only meet but exceed the National Service Standards.”
