மாலத்தீவு: 12 வயது சிறுமியை வல்லுறவு செய்த ஆண்கள் விடுவிப்பு

ஒரு 12 வயது பெண்ணை, அவளது வீட்டு ஜன்னல்களை உடைத்து உள்ளே வந்து அவளை பாலுறவுபலாத்காரம் செய்த 4 பேருக்கு ஆறுமாதம் வெவ்வேறு தீவுகளில் வசிக்க வேண்டும் என்று தண்டனை தரப்பட்டுள்ளது

இந்த் ஆண்களுக்கு சிறைதண்டனை கொடுக்கவில்லை. காரணம், அந்த 12 வயது பெண் கதறவில்லை, கத்தவில்லை ஆகவே அந்த பெண் இந்த உறவுக்கு சம்மதித்திருக்கிறாள் என்று நீதிபதி தீர்ப்பளித்திருக்கிறார்.

எங்கே போய் முட்டிக்கொள்ள?

“Gang Rapists” Given Eight Months Exile
By Paul Roberts in London
July 19, 2007

Four men who had sex with a twelve year old girl after breaking into her home in January have been cleared of rape. A judge found the girl from Kurendhoo, Lhaviyani atoll, had consented to have sex with the men after they smashed her bedroom window with an axe.

The judge sentenced the four men to eight months exile from Kurendhoo for sex outside marriage. The sentence apparently contradicts a government commitment in May that child sex offenders would be imprisoned rather than banished.

On January 31 the men aged between nineteen and twenty-five used an axe to smash the window of the girl’s bedroom before taking her from her bed and having sex with her. The state charged the four men with rape.

But in his summation the judge noted “the girl had reached puberty” and found “she was a willing partner,” because she had not screamed, struggled or told her sister-in-law or step mother about the event.

He found the men guilty of consensual sex before marriage, and imposed the minimum sentence of eight months banishment. The standard sentence for sex outside marriage, even for couples who have consensual sex while engaged to be married, is twelve months banishment.

The Attorney General has promised to appeal against the case, but women’s rights activists are furious at the decision. “I am amazed the judge has presumed a twelve year old girl can give consent to four men to have sex with her,” said Aishath Velezinee, of women’s rights NGO Hama Jamiya [Justice Organisation]. “This is obviously a case of gang rape.”

Velezinee is furious “four men, who raped a twelve year old, will be sent to an island, possibly four separate islands, where there will be other vulnerable young females.”

She says the Deputy Home Minister Azima Shukoor had promised a UN conference in Geneva in May, child sex offenders would be imprisoned rather than banished.

Aminath Eenas of the Gender Ministry also revealed her ministry has told the legal authorities sex offenders should be “imprisoned not banished,” and evidence of abuse victims be “heard in private not open courts.”

“We have asked repeatedly, but there is nothing else we can do,” Eenas complained.

Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel said there is “a judicial practice to sentence such offenders to imprisonment,” and did not know why the judge “departed from the prevailing practice.”

But of Azima Shukoor's promise to the UN, Velezine said, “the minister completely distorted the truth. The law clearly still permits banishment for child sexual offences, and the judiciary does not consider this a serious crime.” On Wednesday Azima told Minivan News she was “too busy to discuss this.”

“The sentences send completely the wrong message. It tells men of all ages they can get away with rape, and it tells young women not to come forward as they will be re-victimised by the judicial system,” Velezinee went on.

And she called on the Gender Ministry to “condemn the decision in the strongest possible terms,” and “make sure this goes all the way to the high court.” The Gender Minister, Aishath Didi, has so far refused to comment on the case.