Driver arrested for sexual assault released

The taxi driver arrested in capital Male on Saturday for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a 21-year-old female passenger has been released on Sunday.

Ali Rasheed, from Haa Alif atoll Muraidhoo, tried to sexually assault the woman hailed down on her way from Social Centre in Maafannu to her home around 7.30 in the evening.

A police spokesperson said that the 56-year-old man was released because the police did not see fit to investigate the case by detaining him. However, the official assures that the investigation is ongoing.

Upon release, the taxi driver had come straight to Haveeru and had denied the accusations. Rasheed also said that it was the woman's effort to defame him.

He asserted that he had not even touched the girl who had come and sat at the front seat, and that whatever he is alleged to have done was a verbal statement.

"I said to her what we say generally to girls her age. I asked her; 'Baby, where do you want to go?' That became disrespectful for her. Or she must have gotten offended by the tone I may have used. Does that make it rape? She got out of the car right when I said it. There were three other girls in the backseat at that time," the driver said.

via Haveeru

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