Magistrate in contempt of court dispute dismisses allegations of sexual harassment

A magistrate, who is accused of raising contempt of court charges against a headmaster because of a dispute involving the judge and the headmaster’s sister, has denied allegations of wrongdoing.

Judge Ali Shareef at the Laamu Atoll Fonadhoo magistrate court placed Mohamed Shaukath under house arrest on Sunday, when he reportedly refused to apologise for contempt of court charges, according to credible sources.

The charges were said to have been raised after Shaukath, the headmaster of Hamad Bin Khaleefa Al Thani School, reprimanded Shareef in a private text message for allegedly sexually harassing his sister, an administrative staff at the court.

“It’s not true,” Shareef told The Maldives Independent today.

“The case against Shaukath is contempt of court for disrupting and interfering with the internal and administrative work of the court.”

He declined to comment further.

Shaukath was given five days to appoint a lawyer.

According to regulations published by the Supreme Court, a judge can mete out a fine between MVR10,000 (US$649) and MVR100,000 (US$6485) or a jail term of up to one month for contempt of court.

Writing by Zaheena Rasheed