KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Women's rights group Sisters In Islam has urged the government and authorities to give immediate attention to incest, rape and extreme physical abuse cases to prevent these from rising.
According to data in the group's newly launched booklet containing statistics and findings, Telenisa Statistics, the number of incest cases filed in court in 2019 has increased compared to 2018.
The findings were based on former minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong's statement delivered in Parliament last October 2019.
Liew had said that there were 57 cases recorded in 2019 compared to 21 throughout 2018.
In the booklet, it also found that in 2019, 35 of the incest cases filed were recorded as no further action (NFA) compared to seven cases in 2018.
"For example, Malaysians were horrified when a father was charged for multiple accounts of raping and committing incest on his 15-year-old daughter.
"We barely recovered from the appalling nature of that case, when we were hit with another case of four family members committing incest on two sisters in Kota Samarahan," SIS said in the booklet.
It added that in the middle of the year, an 18-year-old youth was also arrested for raping his eight-year-old sister in Sungai Petani.
The booklet also disclosed that the number of rape cases filed in court as at August 2019 was 269 while in 2018, there were 481 cases.
Meanwhile, 183 molest cases were filed in court in the first eight months of 2019 compared to 384 throughout 2018.
Fifty-four sexual harassment cases were recorded as at last August 2019, compared to 90 cases in 2018.
