Rape passed as major criminal offence in committee review stage

Amendments to the Penal Code, which lists rape as a major criminal offence, passed the Parliamentary committee review stage on August 24.

With the current alterations proposed to the Penal 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 his whereabouts, prior to being questioned by the police.

The bill seeking to amend the Penal Code was submitted to the Parliament by the representative of Alif Alif Atoll's Mathiveri constituency Hassan Zaheen, on behalf of the state.

This submission was made 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.