Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) has suspended its Chief Executive after he was implicated in a “heresy hunt” against a gender-critical staff member.
Mridul Wadhwa, a man who identifies as a woman, was placed on leave in May when an Employment Tribunal vindicated former support worker Roz Adams. The employee was subjected to a misconduct investigation after asking if a ‘non-binary’ staff member was a “man or a woman”.
Employment Judge Ian McFatridge found that senior management used the disciplinary process to “make an example” of Adams because they believed she was “guilty of a heresy in that she did not fully subscribe to the gender ideology”.
‘Non-binary’
During ERCC’s dispute with Adams last year, Wadhwa told a University of Edinburgh event that the best way to encourage staff to support inclusive policies was to “fire them”.
Before extending access to all men in 2023, ERCC allowed men who claimed they were female or non-binary to use its women-only services, including Cameron Downing, who was recently sentenced to six years in prison for sex offences.
JK Rowling commented: “That a male sexual predator was able to access the services of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre should beggar belief, but, of course, it doesn’t. ERCC is still run by the trans-identified male who believes women who want single-sex services are bigots.”
Rape Crisis Scotland has commissioned an independent review into the centre and requested a separate safeguarding review in light of the revelations about Downing.
‘Bigots’
In 2021, Wadhwa was criticised for implying that victims who want single-sex spaces to be protected are “bigots” who should expect ‘to be challenged on their prejudices’.
While discussing transgender issues on The Guilty Feminist podcast, he said that those holding “unacceptable beliefs” who sought help after being sexually assaulted would be encouraged to “reframe their trauma”.
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