Judicial authorities have denied that a 15 year-old child abuse victim is facing charges of fornication at the Juvenile Court, despite media reports to the contrary.
Local newspaper Haveeru reported yesterday (January 6) that the Prosecutor General’s (PG’s) Office pressed charges of fornication against a female minor from Shaviyani Atoll Feydhoo at the Juvenile Court following the conclusion of a police investigation.
Director of the Department of Judicial Administration Ahmed Maajid however told Minivan News today that no case against a minor for fornication had been submitted to the court at present.
The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has meanwhile confirmed that it had forwarded a case to the PG’s Office against a 15 year-old female for undisclosed reasons.
Back in June 2012, the same minor – a school student at the time – gave birth to a baby later discovered buried in the outdoor shower area of a home on Feydhoo. The discovery led to the arrest of four people, including the 15 year-old girl’s mother and step father.
Haveeru reported yesterday that the victim’s mother and step father had been charged with the murder of the baby. According to the newspaper, the girl’s step father also faces charges of possession of pornography and sexual abuse of a child.
Under the Child Sex Offenders (Special Provisions) Act of 2009, the penalty for child sex abuse is 10 to 14 years but can be extended to 15 to 18 years if the accused was in a position of trust with the children he or she abused.
The girl’s mother meanwhile faces charges under the 2009 law of deliberately concealing the alleged sexual abuse.
Charges
Department of Judicial Administration Director Maajid claimed that while no case had as yet been filed against the 15 year-old at the country’s courts, he understood that she faced criminal charges on a separate matter not related to the death of her child.
“As far as I know, the girl is being charged over a separate case of fornication, unrelated to the issue of the baby found buried,” he said.
Maajid claimed that although minors could not be charged for any crime under Islamic Shariah, Maldivian law did allow suspects under 18 years of age to be tried in the country’s Juvenile Court depending on the individual circumstances of each case.
“A minor is exempted from criminal liability in Islamic Shariah. Under Maldivian law, a minor of 15 to 18 years of age may be tried as a juvenile offender,” he said.
Maajid explained that juvenile offenders could be generally charged for any type of criminal offence.
Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed today that a case had been filed against the 15 year-old girl, but was unrelated to the discovery of her dead child last year. However, Haneef said that further details on the charges could not be given at present due to the child’s status as a minor in the eyes of the law.
The Police spokesperson referred the matter to Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizzu, who was not responding to calls today. Minivan News was awaiting a response from the PG’s Office at the time of the press.
Dr Mariyam Shakeela and Dr Aishath Rameela, the respective Acting Minister and State Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human rights were also not responding to calls at time of press.
In September last year, a 16 year-old girl was sentenced to house arrest and 100 lashes after being found guilty of fornication with a 29 year-old man.
Desperate measures
There have been a number of recent incidents reported in the media where pregnant women have been forced to take desperate measures such as self-induced abortions, infanticide or abandoning infants.
On December 26, 2012, police announced that a baby had been discovered abandoned on the side of a road in the Maafannu Ward of Male’.
Earlier the same month, a 26-year old male and 20-year old female were reportedly arrested in connection to the discovery of a five month-old foetus buried on a beach on the island of Maradhoo Feydhoo in Seenu Atoll.
Over the last two years, three other newborns have been found dead in the country.
Over the same period there have been two separate incidents where newborn children were discovered abandoned but alive.
Two foetuses were reported discovered during this two year period, one hidden in a milk tin and the other at the bottom of Male’s municipal swimming pool. Another fully-developed baby was thrown into a park having apparently been strangled with underwear tied around its neck.
The Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) has previously described these incidents, as well as the figures detailing an increase in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, as evidence of a sexual health crisis in the Maldives.
Nazeera Najeeb, head of the reproductive health unit of the CCHDC, told Minivan News in an interview last year that the centre was witnessing an “alarming” increase in cases of underage and unplanned pregnancies, where some girls are getting pregnant “without even knowing it”.
“These unwanted pregnancies are subsequently resulting in more unsafe abortions, baby dumping or infanticide,” she noted.
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How horrible, the PG office is corrupted by Islamists, they probably charged the girl with Zina then claimed otherwise due to the backlash against it.
They have charged 16 year olds with zina and even sentenced for flogging when they turn 18 just for having a relationship.
Its not fornication if its a minor, never is can be.
Some idiots dont understand the concept of consent
"Dr Mariyam Shakeela and Dr Aishath Rameela, the respective Acting Minister and State Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human rights were also not responding to calls at time of press."
what makes you think a call from a bedroom-run blog writer would be answered by the ministers?
Hehe
Good one reen.
This "news website" is not registered. Its "journalists" are not accredited. They are working in maldives using tourist visa.
This is indeed a bedroom run blog by some secularist MDP hooligans.
Minivan News is a Department of Information-listed publication and all foreign staff have appropriate visas permitting them to work legally in the Maldives. - Minivan News team
Reeen & Hehe
Would you rather have the rest of the media feed you completely biased 'nicer' stories that don't make you secretly hate this messed up society. All this is happening in our society, don't shoot the messenger, just because you don't want to hear all this crap!
Remember how 'good' it used to be. Hardly news of sexual abuse, corruption or violence etc etc, so peaceful, its not that it didnt happen but everything was just swept under the rug.
" “Dr Mariyam Shakeela and Dr Aishath Rameela, the respective Acting Minister and State Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human rights were also not responding to calls at time of press.”
what makes you think a call from a bedroom-run blog writer would be answered by the ministers? ".
This is too good to prove that those who are raving and laughing at this statement are biased and down to the hilt guilty of one thing! Lack of consideration!
Here there is a case to be considered!
To my belief, a truth and fact of daily life should remain as they are!
When something is going wrong somewhere, a reporter has a responsibility to report! The reporter can be a bedroom or bathroom blog writer or who ever!
Matter of child molesting, and especially the male gender getting away untanned and unpunished is a matter to be considered!
Supposing, if @Reen was a female and a child, and if @Reen was molested, given a baby for a present. and left to live an undignified life, can @Reen accept the ordeal? Or, must @Reen live with the repercussions or the aftermaths? And would that be fair, @Reen and Co.?
Political satire can be one thing, but here is a matter of concern, and a matter to be concerned about, at least!
This is a terrible shame to maldives,father/stepfather abusing his daughter sexually&who knows whether he pimped her,poor defenseless girl unable to get help because of the conservative culture of maldives,mentally and physically a wreck is being charged with fornication is a terrible blot on any who values humanism or decent human behavior in maldives
i wanted to visit this country next week for holiday....i am cancelling my visit.didnt knew that Taliban was ruling here.
There is no Taliban in Maldives, but there is a sinister campaign by some brainwashed powere crazy Maldivians to come to power using any means. so minivan news is just the platform to do this. West is obessed with islamophobia, so sombebody fornicates, its because of islam, somebody takes drugs, thats also because of islam.. see the trend? they want to associate everything negative with islam and then scare away tourists. I don't know this theory will get them power but they seems to think so...
I was born and lived for 30 years in a muslim country. I am definitely not Islamophobic. I did not know that Maldives is a second Afghanistan.
I cancel my trip to the Maldives. Your scholars can have the resort.
Maybe the police raped her while she was in custody, then claimed it was consensual?
@humanbeing cut the crap shit if you are so humanistic take on the mullahs in male who prescribe such punishment to the girls,your words are bs hypocrisy
Amnesty International:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/maldives-girl-sexually-abused-should-be-protected-not-punished-2013-01-08
@ a female guest
Aha. i see, so you're a female person living in a Muslim country ? Why would you want to come to this particular maldivian resort ? To sunbathe while wearing a veil and a bikini ? to drink some vodka ?
Funny. That doesnt sound like something a religious female from an Islamic country would say ! And would a female guest from an islamic country come to Maldives to sunbathe in our resorts ?
"Maldivian":You are perfectly right!
No Muslim or female should visit the vodka drinking Maldives..The Islands are Haram!
So very sad what is happening to this girl. Its not just India, even in the Maldives attitudes need to change or else we will keep doing wrong by the girl child and women who live here.
maldivian you got your brains freeze dried in s**t,you better take english language tuitions to comprehend what@female guest said "I was born and lived for 30 years in a muslim country" at present where she lives is not mentioned,neither does she state she is a muslim, my guess some female from malaysia migrated to australia
Actually, cabs, just stop coming to Maldives. Help starve the regime. Especially that 'human being' wannabe over there.