The Gender Ministry has confirmed that missing boy Shaeem Abdulla has been registered at the ministry since June 4.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, Gender Ministry’s media official said that the 14-year-old was kept separate from the other children at the shelter.

The media official said that he was kept under the ministry’s custody to make an assessment in relation to a police investigation and that the ministry had reported him missing to the police on June 18 as soon as they found out.

RaajjeMV understands that the ministry had been receiving cases regarding Shaeem since 2009, including cases of child neglect, and that during his earlier registration at the children’s shelter in 2015, he was returned to his family as part of a re-integration process.

The parliament has decided to investigate whether Shaeem went missing because of state negligence.