Police arrest man accused of molesting stepdaughters

Maldives Police Service, on Tuesday, arrested a man in central Maldives accused of sexually abusing his two stepdaughters.

According to a police spokesperson, the suspect, identified only as a 55-year-old Maldivian male, was arrested under a court warrant at approximately 12:45 in the afternoon.

The police, in an earlier statement, said that the crime had been reported on Saturday, February 1.

The victims are both under the age of 18 years.

According to a local who spoke to Sun on condition of anonymity, the mother of the victims is originally from a neighboring island, but took her daughters and moved islands following her marriage to the man, where they lived alone in his residence.

The woman had moved back to her home island with her daughters on Thursday, January 30, following a “dispute between the two”, said the local.

Special Provisions Act to Deal with Child Sex Abuse Offenders sets out special provisions to deal with child sex offenders both at investigative and trial stages.

It prescribes a prison sentence of 15 to 18 years, if the person who carried out the offense is in a position of trust over the victim.

The high volume of child sex offense cases in Maldives has led Hinnavaru MP Jeehan Mohamed, the chair of Parliament’s Human Rights and Gender Committee, to present legislature to amend the Criminal Procedure Code in order to recodify sexual offenses against children as a major crime.

The first reading of the bill was held on Tuesday morning.