The 38-year-old man arrested over allegations of child sexual abuse, has been remanded by seven days.

The man is accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old.

While the case was submitted to the police on Wednesday, an arrest was made on Friday. Criminal Court remanded him by seven days on Saturday.

According to the police, the man is to have sexually assaulted the 11-yo girl after taking her to a guesthouse in the capital.

While police note that such cases involving children are probed as serious cases, Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed had requested the Prosecutor General’s Office to remand the abuser until his trial concludes. He added that this was the first such request “in five years”.

The girl’s case, as well as another similar cases of a 16-year-old being sexually abused inside a guesthouse, prompted local NGO Advocating the Rights of Children (ARC) to call on the government to establish “more stringent measures to prevent cases of sexual abuse, rape and exploitation of minors, particularly in the tourism industry”.

ARC called on relevant stakeholders to properly investigate both cases and press charges accordingly, under Articles 122, 123, 124, 125 and 126 of the Child Rights Protection Act 2019, which highlights the penalties for such offenses involving children including exploitation, grooming, negligence and failure to protect a child from harm.