The Supreme Court has overturned the High Court judgment that revoked High Courts decision to void an 18-year and 6 month prison sentence handed down by the HDh. Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court against a mother for permitting and encouraging the sexual abuse of her own daughter.

With this decision by the Supreme Court, the woman who was freed in 2018 will have to resume serving her prison sentence.

This is a case involving the encouragement and facilitation of sexual acts committed by a person against her daughter on various occasions starting from 2014. In this case, the Kulhudhuffushi court found her guilty of two offenses in 2016. These were the offense of causing a child to engage in sexual acts while in a position of trust, and the offense of failing to report sexual abuse against a child despite being aware of it.

The sentence handed down for both offenses was 18 years and six months in prison. When she appealed that sentence to the High Court, the High Court voided the lower court's sentence in 2018.

The High Court reached its decision on the grounds that her right to a fair defence had been violated, as it could not be established that she had received the trial documents. The court also found that charges for failing to report had been filed without an investigation being conducted.  However, when the state appealed this case to the Supreme Court, that court found the High Court's decision to be incorrect.

The judgment issued by the Supreme Court stated that since this case occurred prior to the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Act, even if there was no specific record of documents being delivered, she had raised no such complaint during the trial. The judgment noted that in addition to being given the opportunity to retain a lawyer, her receipt of the documents was evident as she had personally questioned witnesses during the trial regarding the medical reports submitted by the state.

The judgment also noted that the police investigation records showed she had been questioned about concealing the sexual abuse of the child. It stated that she had admitted during questioning to keeping the abuse secret despite knowing that her child was being abused, and therefore found that filing the charge was justified.

The opinion written by Justice Ali Rasheed Hussain, who presided over the Supreme Court bench hearing this case, was supported by Justice Aishath Shujoon Mohamed and Justice Mohamed Saleem, who were also on the bench. Therefore, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court's judgment and ordered the implementation of the 18-year and six-month prison sentence handed down by the lower court.