Parliamentary inquiry sought into claims of police misconduct in probe into woman’s fall from Male’ building

Ahmed Azaan Marzooq, a parliamentarian from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), has proposed a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of police misconduct in the investigation into the fall of a young woman from a building in Male’ last weekend.

The 21-year-old woman was found injured on the rooftop of a warehouse in the Henveiru district at around 07:23 am on Friday, April 18. According to the police, their investigation uncovered that she fell from a skylight on the ninth-floor stairwell of the adjacent building.

In a letter addressed to Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla on Thursday, Azaan, the parliamentary representative for the Central Hithadhoo constituency, cited serious public concern, especially among youths, that the police conduct in investigating the case stands in stark contrast to usual protocol in investigating such cases.

Azaan said that given the sensitivity of the case and the high level of public concern, it is important that the Parliament ascertain that the police are investigating the case fairly, free from any influence and in accordance with the law.

He asked for a parliamentary inquiry through the Parliament’s Security Services Committee (241 Committee) into the police conduct in the case from the very moment the incident was reported to the law enforcement agency.

The potential parliamentary inquiry into the investigation comes amid allegations of a police coverup in the case – fueled by allegations surrounding the circumstances behind the young woman’s fall and the lack of disclosure of information regarding the other people who were with her that night.

There are allegations that she was potentially sexually assaulted and pushed off the building.

In a closed-door press conference just before midnight on Tuesday, the police said their investigation has not uncovered any evidence of foul play in the woman’s fall.

During the press briefing, in which cameras and other recording devices were not allowed, the police screened clips from CCTV footage. The police also disclosed the identity of the young woman who fell, but not the other eight people who were with her, including the man who is believed to be the last person who was with her before her fall.

His face was blurred in the video clips screened by the police.

According to the police, the young woman was with a group of eight other people on Friday early morning; five men and three women. At around 12:30 am, they go to a house that the police said is located “in central Male’”.

They left the house at around 03:40 am, and four of them, including the young woman, enter a house in Ameenee Magu at around 04:00 am. They are seen exiting the second house around 10 minutes later. The young woman and one of the men, both of them barefoot, are then seen entering H. Fentenoy, a nearby building located in Buruzu Magu. The video clips showed by the police appear to show both of them behaving erratically as they wander up the building. The woman appears to have trouble walking and even falls down at one point.

The police said they believe both were intoxicated at the time.

According to police, they try to enter the terrace of the building, which they said was locked, and then are seen on CCTV getting intimate in the stairwell. The man appears to have taken off his t-shirt at some point and given it to the young woman to wear.

According to police, camera footage later appears to show them appearing to look for each other.

The police said that the building did not have any cameras on the ninth floor – from were the young woman fell. One of the clips screened by police shows the man on the stairs on the eighth floor at around 04:25 am as a loud bang is heard. Police believe this to be the moment she fell. He is heard crying as he rushes up the stairs to the ninth floor.

Police said he rushed out of the building after trying to find her.

The police said that both the man and the woman had tested positive for narcotics. The man tested positive for cannabis. Meanwhile, two of the people who were with them refused to provide their urine samples. The police did not say if they conducted blood tests to test for a broader range of drugs.

The man wasn’t arrested but is under a no-fly order.

The rest of the group was questioned but weren’t detained.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen confirmed allegations that the first house they went to that night was his residence. He also confirmed that two of his nephews were among the group of individuals involved, but denied he knew anything about the “gathering.”

He also denied allegations he was influencing the police investigation into the case.

The young woman sustained serious injuries from the fall. She was initially treated on a ventilator but was later reported to be breathing on her own. However, her condition remains serious and she is being treated in the ICU.

Mounting public anger over the case prompted a large crowd of protesters, the vast majority of them young men and women, to gather outside the Sergeant Adam Haleem Criminal Investigation Building in Male’ on Wednesday night demanding justice for the young woman.