Family of alleged concubine denies media reports

The family of the 17-year-old “concubine” has denied media reports that the girl was being kept as an under-age sex slave.

Speaking to Minivan News today, the girl’s brother said police checked the house on Wednesday with a court order, taking his sister in for questioning.

“When they took her statement, among their questions was when she got married, why did she go abroad for the marriage and whether she got married at such a young age because the family asked her to or why she had decided to get married at her age,” he said.

He added police told her she might be arrested if she refused to answer their questions truthfully.

“So my sister cried and gave them the statement,” he said.

Police took her to the hospital for a physical examination before taking her statement, he added.

When police arrived at the house at 1.30pm on Wednesday, he continued, they showed him a court order authorising them to check if the girl suspected of being a concubine lived at Ma. Saamiramanzil.

He added police confiscated religious literature, books, CDs and his hard drive.

After the girl was released, he said, police said they did not consider the girl to be a concubine.

“So we asked them not to give this information to the media until the case was finished and they said, no, it won’t go to media,” he said, but when they came home they heard the news on the radio.

Concubine

The issue was brought to public attention by former Attorney General Azima Shukoor at a Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party rally in September.

Azima said she had read an article on freelance journalist Hilath Rasheed’s blog about an under-age girl taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) who was being kept as a sex slave.

Both police and the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) have since been investigating the case.

Earlier this month, the HRCM said it had confirmed the reports and the doctor who examined the girl was told by her female guardian that she was a concubine.

“When the doctor at first did not understand what a ‘jaariya’ [concubine] was and he asked again differently, he was told that she was a jaariya kept by her husband,” said Ahmed Zahid, vice-president of the commission.

The girl’s brother said she was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) by her sister-in-law.

“We went because I was having a stomach pains, made an appointment and showed to the doctor,” said the girl. “They took a blood test and we got the report that night. It was not positive.”

“She definitely didn’t say this was a jaariya. She said this is the wife of my husband’s brother,” he said.

While the police told the family that they did not inform media, he said, the family believed it could not have come from any other source.

Media spotlight

On Wednesday, local media reported that unnamed sources have confirmed that police had discovered the underage concubine based on records from IGMH.

Three radio stations, SunFM, DhiFM and Radio Atoll, reported the news with the girl’s address, while daily newspapers Miadhu and Haveeru reported the story that night.

He further denied media reports that the girl became pregnant out of wedlock.

The girl’s brother said Haveeru claimed “obscenely” that the girl had been married for four months, but was six months pregnant.

He added Haveeru’s story included the house name making the family’s identity clear.

While the three radio stations retracted the story and apologised when contacted by family, he said, the two newspapers are yet to follow suit.

Marriage
His sister was married in India and had been seeing her boyfriend for a year, he said.

He showed Minivan News documents of forms with witness fingerprints and the girl’s fathers’ authorisation as well as a letter to the family court sent four months before the marriage.

The marriage took place in July at a place where other Maldivians also marry, he said, adding that it had been validated by the family court.

He said the media reports had ruined the family’s reputation, directed the public’s anger towards them and caused the girl psychological distress.

He asked Minivan News to publish the address in this article to ensure they could clear their reputation.

“We don’t even believe in jaariyas,” he said. “Even if it was done in the past, we don’t believe that it can be done today.”

He added the family was considering suing for defamation to protect its name.