Raa Atoll, Maldives —The Human Rights and Gender Committee of the Parliament has decided to question the Police and Gender Ministry regarding the rape case in R. Maduvvari.
MP of Maduvvari Constituency and Vice President of Opposition PNC, Adam Shareef had called for the arrests of rapists of a 14 year old girl in his constituency, accusing the police of neglecting the investigation and requested the parliament to investigate the case through independent committee.
Police confirmed that on March 11th, the Police received a report that a young girl below the age of 18 years was raped by an individual on March 3rd in a island in the northern Maldives.
The school girl was taken to a guesthouse near the school by her teacher after school extracurricular activities, given a drugged drink and raped by three masked men. While the girl could not identify the masked men, the rapists had threatened to kill the 14 year old. The girl filed a complaint despite the threats.
Police stated that as they currently have no evidence against any specific individual to establish them as suspects for the rape case and have made no arrests.
Due to lack of arrests by the police, protests took place in front of the Maduvvari Police Station, with the police had arresting 10 protestors after pepper spraying the crowd. The local islander took to the street in protest the next day following this, holding signs against rape and asking for justice.
While the Police is currently investigating the case to establish a suspect for the rape case, the Gender Ministry issued a statement announcing that a case of sexual violence against a 14 year old girl has come to the attention of the Ministry on March 10th and that the victim has now been moved to a safer location.
