KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested for rape after his 12-year-old girlfriend gave birth and hid the baby in the drawer of a storeroom cabinet in a house in Sibu, Sarawak.
Local daily The Star reported that the girl’s adoptive sister had found the baby wrapped in a towel.
“She (the 12-year-old) delivered the baby alone in her adoptive family’s wooden stilt house in Kampung Bahagia Jaya at 6pm on Sunday. Afraid that people would find out, she hid the newborn in the drawer of a storeroom cabinet,” Deputy Sibu OCPD Supt Martin Koo was quoted telling the press.
The boy, who was from the same village, was reportedly detained under Section 376 of the Penal Code for rape.
Sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16, regardless of consent, is considered statutory rape, according to the Penal Code.
The Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, however, does not specify the gender of the children it purports to protect, saying only that it applies to a child below the age of 18.
Child rights advocates have called for a “sweetheart defence” in legislation to decriminalise consensual sexual relationships between youths of similar ages, suggesting an age gap of three to five years.
