Minor sexually assaulted in Hulhumalé

An underaged girl was sexually assaulted last Thursday in the capital’s suburb Hulhumalé.

Police have received reports of the “forced sexual assault,” a spokesman confirmed to the Maldives Independent.

An investigation is under way, the spokesman said, but could not confirm if any suspects have been arrested.

“We cannot give additional information at this time,” he said.

There have been media reports about a 13-year-old girl raped by two men in Hulhumalé on Friday night.

But the police spokesman said there was no rape reported during the weekend.

Citing reliable sources, CNM reported that the victim was taken to a new park in the ‘neighbourhood one’ area of Hulhumalé, a reclaimed island under development as an urban centre.

The park is reportedly poorly lit and parts of it are walled off for development.

According to police statistics, 40 cases of sexual offences were reported in October.

Out of the 31 cases of sexual offences in September, the gender ministry received 24 cases of child sexual abuse.

It is unclear how many rape cases have been successfully prosecuted.

In March last year, a 27-year-old woman was raped in the non-residential, industrial area of Hulhumalé.

In separate incidents in November 2106, two women were assaulted by a Bangladeshi man and dragged into bushes near the Hulhumalé central park. Both women managed to fight their way free.

The incidents prompted the Housing Development Corporation – the state-owned company tasked with developing the new city – to launch a programme to cut down trees and install street lights in the area.

The rape of a 19-year-old woman in Hulhumalé by a migrant worker in 2013 led the police to search about 2,100 expatriates in an attempt to identify the suspect.