Colombo: A Maldivian court has ordered 100 lashes and eight
months' house arrest for a 16-year-old girl convicted of having sex with
an older man, a report said on Monday.
She "confessed" to having sex with the 29-year-old after her family pressed charges. The man was found guilty of having sex with a minor and sentenced on Sunday to 10 years in jail, the private Minivan News reported.
The pair were found having intercourse in the Raa atoll, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the capital island Male, the report said, adding that the girl would be flogged when she reaches adulthood.
"As she is legally a minor, the court stated that the girl's
sentence would be implemented when she turned 18," Minivan News said. It
was not immediately clear when the couple had sex.
The court ruling came 10 months after UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay urged the Maldives to stop publicly flogging women for having extra-marital sex.
Pillay noted during a visit to the country that the Maldives had progressed in safeguarding the rights of its 330,000 Sunni Muslims, but more needed to be done to protect women.
Flogging is normally handed down as a punishment by village chiefs who also act as local judges. A cane is used.
The Maldives, better known as a luxury tourist destination, adopted multi-party democracy in 2008, but faced political unrest leading to the resignation of the first elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, in February.
From: NDTV
She "confessed" to having sex with the 29-year-old after her family pressed charges. The man was found guilty of having sex with a minor and sentenced on Sunday to 10 years in jail, the private Minivan News reported.
The pair were found having intercourse in the Raa atoll, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the capital island Male, the report said, adding that the girl would be flogged when she reaches adulthood.
The court ruling came 10 months after UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay urged the Maldives to stop publicly flogging women for having extra-marital sex.
Pillay noted during a visit to the country that the Maldives had progressed in safeguarding the rights of its 330,000 Sunni Muslims, but more needed to be done to protect women.
Flogging is normally handed down as a punishment by village chiefs who also act as local judges. A cane is used.
The Maldives, better known as a luxury tourist destination, adopted multi-party democracy in 2008, but faced political unrest leading to the resignation of the first elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, in February.
From: NDTV
