Maldives girl whose stepfather reportedly raped her charged with fornication

A Maldives girl, 15,  stepfather has been accused of repeatedly raping her and killing a baby she conceived by him, may be flogged for "fornication" with another man.

Agence France-Presse cited a police source as saying that it was while investigators were looking into the rapes they discovered she had been having had consensual sex with another man — an offense under the Maldives' strict Islamic law.

Women in the Indian Ocean tourism destination found to have had consensual sex outside marriage can be punished with a public flogging.

Minors can also be charged, undergoing their punishment when they reach 18.

According to the Daily Mail, the United Nations urged the Maldives in 2011 to stop flogging women who had sex outside of marriage.

The paper cited UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay as saying:

"This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women, and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country."

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Meanwhile, Maldivian police have accused the 15-year-old girl’s stepfather of repeatedly raping the girl and fathering a child, which he subsequently murdered.

The girl’s mother was charged with helping dispose of the infant’s body, AFP reported.

Maldivian police spokesman Hassan Haneef told AFP:

"We completed the investigation [into the murder of the infant] and gave a report to the prosecutor general's office."

He would not give further details as the case involved a minor.