Empower: Punish cop who threatened to rape youth

PETALING JAYA: Women's rights advocate, Empower has urged Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to form an independent investigation task force to investigate a police officer who allegedly threatened to rape a youth detained at the Dang Wangi police headquarters following the May 1 rally.
Its executive director Maria Chin Abdullah said police should consider the case as a criminal threat by the police officer who has been accused with abuse of power.
"We want an independent and non-involved team to conduct the investigation. How could the Dang Wangi police conduct the investigation when the initial threat was made there," said Maria in a press conference today.
The victim, Maisara Amira, 21, who was the only female among the 23 youths arrested over the May Day rally in Kuala Lumpur, lodged a report on Friday alleging that a police officer threatened to rape her before she was released on Tuesday.
At the press conference organised by human rights group Empower, Maisara recounted the alleged incident after she was arrested along with 22 others for being part of an “anarchist” group purportedly out to disrupt the May 1 rally.
She said that the policeman told her: "Do you want me to rape you? In this room there is just you and me. There is a camera and microphone, if I sell the video I can be rich."
Maisara further added that the officer asked her to answer the questions asked by a female officer, failing which he would enter the room and "settle" the matter with her.
Also present was the victim's father, Mohamed Asmadi Ahmad Safari who expressed concern for his daughter’s safety and urged the IGP to intervene.
"The responsible officer should be brought to justice. The IGP should be involved and conduct a thorough investigation ... his own officer should not have done this," Asmadi said.
Meanwhile, KL Police Chief Senior DCP, Datuk Tajudin Md Isa when contacted by theSun said Maisara has been called to the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters to record her statement and investigations are already in process.
"We have called her to the KL police headquarters and we have already started a thorough investigation pertaining to this issue," said Tajudin.
All 23 youths were released on May 5 on police bail after their statements were recorded.
The youths were investigated under Section 143 of the Penal Code and Section 4 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances Act.
During the rally, some youths dressed in black and with their faces covered were seen setting off orange smoke bombs and spray-painting graffiti on signboards and metal hoardings in the city.