SUNGAI PETANI, July 20 — A Form One female student was allegedly tied up and gagged by two schoolmates in a secondary school toilet here, in what police suspect was an act of bullying driven by jealousy.

The 13-year-old was found with her hands and feet bound using a necktie and her mouth gagged with a handkerchief last Monday.

“Both suspects, who are also 13, admitted to committing the act out of jealousy,” BuletinTV3 wrote quoting Kuala Muda police chief Asst Comm Hanyan Ramlan yesterday.

“Investigations are ongoing, and the suspects are currently being remanded under Sections 323 and 324 of the Penal Code.”

Both Sections cover “voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means” and its punishment.

The incident reportedly came to light when the victim’s mother, waiting outside the school at 6.30pm, became worried when her daughter failed to appear.

She and a school security guard began searching the premises and found the girl in the toilet.

The victim was taken to hospital for minor injuries to her legs and hands, and for trauma treatment.

Her mother later lodged a police report over the incident.

This comes as Mara chairman Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki urged yesterday for a united push to recognise bullying as a crime and end its normalisation as harmless pranks.