A Maldives high court has overturned the sentence of public flogging of a 15-year-old girl for engaging in premarital sex following public outrage.
The BBC reports that the high court ruled on Wednesday that the girl had been wrongly convicted by a juvenile court having consensual sex with another man.
Earlier, a lower court, using Shariah law, had sentenced the teenager to receive 100 lashes for having had premarital sex, which is illegal in the Maldives.
The court revealed that the sentence of the lower court was based on a confession that the girl made while she was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, the report added.
The last ruling had triggered criticism and outrage from various human rights groups.
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However, later a police investigation of a dead baby found buried on the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll, north of the country, had accused her stepfather of raping her, impregnating her and killing the baby.
According to the report, the court added that the girl had been unfit for trial after the alleged rape.
President Mohamed Waheed has expressed happiness on court's latest orders.
