KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — The sentence to be meted out for rape of underage girls (below 16 years) should remain at the discretion of the court, former chief justice Tun Zaki Azmi said today.
He said it was inappropriate to set a penalty for the offence as there were several factors, such as the facts of the case, before a sentence could be imposed on an offender.
“In a case of an old man raping an underage girl, he deserves to be given a heavy sentence, which is imprisonment and whipping. There is no question about that.
“But, in a case involving young couples, is the girl not at fault at all?
“I say that both of them are guilty, and is it fair if only the man is penalised?” he asked reporters after a dialogue by the Special Commission to Study Transformation of the Public Service at the Craft Complex here.
In rape cases like these, he said, normally police reports were lodged after parents found and had read their daughters’ diaries.
On the proposal to amend Section 376 of the Penal Code pertaining to penalty for rape of an underage girl, he said a comprehensive study should be conducted to avoid injustice.
He said injustice could also happen in cases involving incest, if only the man was to be punished as there had been cases involving women.
“This matter has to be looked into from a wider aspect. To me, the best solution is to impose that youngsters cannot have sexual relationships until they are married,” he added.
He said this when asked to comment on a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, that the government had given permission for the Attorney-General’s Chambers to amend Section 376 of the Penal Code to provide for a mandatory jail sentence for those convicted of raping an underage girl. — Bernama
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