PETALING JAYA: The 12-year-old boy who was arrested for alleged rape of a four-old girl here has been released on bail.
Batu Gajah district police said the boy was released on Wednesday after bail was posted.
“We are currently investigating the case under the Child Act 2001 together with section 113 Evidence Act,” said Batu Gajah police chief ACP Ahmad Adnan Basri today.
“Due to the boy being 12 years old, we cannot investigate the case under Section 376 of the Penal Code because he is protected under section 113 of the Evidence Act on the presumption that a boy under the age of 13 cannot commit rape.”
He said the police were waiting for a medical report and further instructions from the deputy public prosecutor in Ipoh.
The boy was alleged to have raped the girl who was under the care of his mother, who was a babysitter at a nursery in Batu Gajah.
State exco for Character Development, Women and Family Development and Social Welfare, Wong May Ing, said the state government had launched a guideline book on body safety to be distributed to all students in Perak since the statistics on child abuse in the state are very high.
“It is vital to teach young children about body safety so they can see the differences between the two genders,” she said.
“The parents should be punished when their children under 18 years old commit any wrong doings,” she added.
She also said parents should send their child to registered nurseries and babysitters.
During an anti-domestic violence seminar in Ipoh, Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said there had been a 60% increase in child abuse cases in Perak between 2015 and 2018.
“The Welfare Department Statistics showed that there were 271 cases in 2015 and 451 in 2018,” Dr Lee said, noting that the majority of these cases involved little girls and were related to sexual abuse and neglect.
