The parliament, on Sunday, passed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code which finally list rape and sexual abuse of minors as major criminal offences.
Although rape and sexual abuse of minors will be treated as major crimes upon ratification of the bill, sexual assault against adults is still considered a minor criminal offence.
This means that perpetrators of sexual assault against adults cannot be remanded for a period extending 30 days, and they can be let off with a lenient punishment, depending on the evidence and the judge conducting the hearing.
The parliamentary representative of Lhaviyani Atoll's Hinnavaru constituency Jeehan Mahmood proposed to list sexual abuse of minors under major criminal offences. During the committee review stage, rape was added under major criminal offences as well.
The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, reviewed and forwarded to the floor by the Judiciary Committee, were approved with the majority vote of 59 members present in the sitting.
With the current alterations proposed to the Code, 11 crimes were listed as major criminal offences, including rape, murder, child sexual assault, money laundering and financing terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking, financial crimes amounting to over MVR 100,000, tax evasion, bribery and corruption.
Moreover, the amendments require court orders remanding suspects until the end of trial to be reviewed every 30 days, in the presence of the suspect.
The bill also stipulated that any enforcement body can enter public places without a court order during a criminal investigation.
Under the amendments, suspects must be granted the opportunity to call their lawyer, family member or other acquaintance and state their whereabouts, prior to being questioned by the police.
Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code were submitted to the parliament amidst demands from advocacy and rights groups to legally consider rape and sexual assault as major offences, after multiple suspects arrested over the sex crimes involving minors were released following the authorities' inability to prosecute them within the remand period allowed for minor criminal offences.
Public ire continues to soar over the government's meagre record of arresting and convicting perpetrators of sexual offences despite several promises to support the rights of children and women.
Protesters demanding justice for rape and sexual assault victims held demonstrations during June and July in front of Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services as well as the roads of capital Male', following an upsurge of reported cases and alleged misconduct of police during investigations.
Recently, a collective of gender equality advocates originating from Family Legal Clinic (FLC), Nufoshey and Uthema Maldives also launched the #FundOurSafety initiative, voicing demands to reallocate state funds for the protection of victims.
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