Friday
22nd Nov 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Prosecutor General's Office
Indian Attacker Who Assaulted Old Man In Mosque Deported For The Greater Good: Prosecutor General’s Office
Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem.
The Indian man who had entered a Hulhumalé mosque and attacked an elderly, local worshiper on January 15 had been deported without charge to “serve the interests of the greater good”, the Prosecutor General’s Office has said.
Speaking to The Maldives Journal, the PGO’s Media Official, Ahmed Shafeeu, said that after evaluating “the type of the case, the damage caused, the suspect’s prior criminal record, and the way things transpired”: it appeared that deporting the suspect “would serve the greater good” more than laying criminal charges against him.
He said that the suspect’s country of origin did not factor into the decision.
Shafeeu said that the PGO had always been in the practice of deporting criminal who happened to be expatriates after evaluating the circumstances and the type of the case.
There has been a spike in crimes committed by Indian nationals in the Maldives in the past few weeks. All suspects had been deported from the country, with no charges laid against them.
Late last year, a belligerently intoxicated Indian national was arrested after he stood on the street and yelled “anti-Islamic hate-speech about Allah and Islam”. He had been deported with no charges. Similarly, an Indian national who had sexually assaulted a Maldivian woman in a resort had “fled the country” without charges.
The cases of Indian national who had committed sexual assault in a plane, and the Indian doctor who had abused a child in Hulhumalé, have also not been investigated, and the suspects have not been charged.
More than 5,000 Indian nationals had been granted a visa allowing them to live and work in the Maldives. Several Indian military personnel are also stationed in the country. The Ministry of Defence, however, have consistently refused to disclose their number.