Public urged against publicizing pictures of man accused of molesting daughters

Ministry of Social and Family development urged the public against publicizing pictures of the man suspected of molesting his daughters, citing the publication of his photos amounts to disclosing the identity of the victims.

The Ministry made the appeal after photos and videos that could indirectly identify the identity of the victims were circulated on social media by various parties.

As per Article 33 of of the Child Rights Protect Act bans the disclosure of caste information such as name, address and place of education of children accused of a crime of children, children who have become victims of a crime and children in need of care for any other reason and any other information which can directly or indirectly establish who the child is in any format.

The Ministry explained what is meant by “indirectly” in the law. In this regard, it was detailed the publication of the father’s photo indirectly discloses the identity of the children to the public which violates the dignity of the children and subjects them to further mental distress.

“For the reasons aforementioned, we urge everyone against publication of such photos on news and social media to ensure there are no infringements of the children’s dignity,” the statement read.

The Ministry also urged contacting the Child Helpline at 1412 if anyone knows that a child is experiencing harm.

Police announced that they launched a probe into a case involving a father molesting two of his daughters and an additional girl in Male’ City on Sunday.

On Monday, they revealed that the 42-year-old Maldivian man arrested in connection to the case was remanded in custody for 30 days.

Police, on Saturday, also confirmed they were probing a sexual abuse case of a minor.

As per statistics released by the Police, a total of 238 sexual misconduct cases have been reported to the authority so far this year.