KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — Underage girls account for 90 per cent of victims of rape and molest cases in Selangor, the state’s police’s records show.
In a report by local daily Sinar Harian, Selangor police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief SAC Datuk Fadzil Ahmat reportedly said that rape and molest cases typically involve girls aged as young as 14 until 18 years old.
He said that actions by a suspect on a rape victim regardless of whether it was done by force or voluntarily would still be categorised as a rape offence under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code.
Malay Mail’s check of Penal Code’s Section 376 shows the punishments listed for rape offences, while the definition of rape under Section 375 in the Penal Code includes a man having sexual intercourse with a woman with or without her consent when she is aged below 16 years old.
According to the Sinar Harian report, Selangor police’s records of the state showed that there were 315 rape cases in 2019 and 304 rape cases in 2020, and 211 molest cases in the state in 2019 and 180 molest cases there in 2020.
While Fadzil said that there was a slight decrease in rape and molest cases recorded in Selangor for this year, he urged for teenage girls to be cautious and not to be deceived by those whom they have met online through social media.
He said many of these girls who had become victims were trapped by suspects who used social media to approach them and invite them out before carrying out sexual crimes on the girls, noting that this included the use of the “Direct Message” function on Instagram in several cases involving famous celebrities.
“The suspect’s Modus Operandi is to invite the victim out for a meal and then deceive the victim into meeting him using his popularity.
“The suspect will then persuade the victim to go home together and follow the suspect home before the sexual acts is carried out on the victim,” he was quoted saying by Sinar Harian.
In the same report, Fadzil said girls should have company and notify their parents of their movements to prevent unwanted incidents if they are asked to meet by suspects.
“If there are teenage girls that become victims in such cases, don’t be afraid and immediately step forward to lodge a police report to enable the obtaining of evidence for investigations and prosecution,” he was quoted saying.
In 2019, the Home Ministry in a parliamentary reply told Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto that police records showed that 9,489 rape cases (not including incest cases) in Malaysia were reported to the police from 2014 to August 2019, with 9,505 rape victims that were mostly aged between 13 to 18 years old, with the suspects mostly being the victim’s boyfriend or someone known to the victim at the age of 16 and above.
The Home Ministry had also in the same reply said that there were 7,571 cases of molest reported to the police during the same 2014 to August 2019 period, with 144 male victims and 7,235 female victims.
Separately, de facto law minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan had in a written parliamentary reply this year provided Kasthuri with the annual breakdown of various offences recorded by the government including rape cases and molest cases from 2014 up to June 2020.
Based on Malay Mail’s tally of such figures, the rape cases (excluding incest) totalled 1,428 in 2014, 1,639 in 2015, 1,433 in 2016, 1,864 in 2017, 1,518 in 2018, 681 in 2019 and 290 from January to June 2020.
As for molest cases, the total calculated for 2014 is 854 cases, 1,343 in 2015, 1,387 in 2016, 1,360 in 2017, 608 in 2018, 376 in 2019 and 271 from January to June 2020.
