New Straits Times (14/09/07)
KUALA LUMPUR: Beating one’s wife into having sex can now land a man in serious trouble.
The punishment is a jail sentence of up to 20 years and whipping. This penalty is provided in an amendment on rape in the Penal Code which came into effect last Friday.
An example would be when the husband refuses to take "no" for an answer and then proceeds to slap or punch his wife into submission.
The amendment has classified rape and aggravated rape and each category carries different penalties.
Aggravated rape will include having sex with a girl aged below 12 and those found guilty could be sentenced up to 30 years and whipped.
The definition of rape has also been extended to cover the sexual exploitation of women by people in authority as in the case of a medicine man taking advantage of women seeking treatment.
Snatch theft has been reclassified as robbery and the perpetrator now faces up to 14 years in jail.
The maximum sentence for this offence was seven years in prison.
In July last year, parliament passed amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) after a parliamentary select committee obtained feedback from the public and after visiting several Commonwealth countries to study their laws.
Changes to the CPC provide better rights for arrested persons. They include:
• Informing detainees of the grounds for their arrest as soon as possible and allowing them to inform their family and their lawyers.
• That the remand period be broken into two stages and categories:
In the investigation of an offence punishable with imprisonment of less than 14 years, a magistrate may issue a remand order of not more than four days on the first application and not more than three days on the second.
For an offence that is punishable with the death penalty or imprisonment of more than 14 years, a magistrate can grant up to seven days’ remand on the first application, followed by a maximum of seven more days on the second.
An accused person has automatic right to obtain favourable documents like first information report and the cautioned statement to prepare his defence.
There are now clear provisions on how a search should be conducted on suspects in order to safeguard their dignity.
The four types of body searches allowed are pat down search, strip search, intimate search and intrusive search. The controversial "nude squat" is banned.
Lawyer and lecturer Baljit Singh Sidhu said the amendment on remand prisoners was an excellent development.
"Before, there were repeated allegations of these prisoners being abused while under police custody."
He said punishment for offences such as rape and snatch theft had been enhanced but the provision for rehabilitation outside prison had been overlooked.
"It is left to be seen whether a longer custodial sentence will bring down such crime," he said.
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Responses to the amendment:
Mixed reaction to marital rape reform
New Straits Times (15/09/07)
KUALA LUMPUR: The recent amendments on marital rape to the Penal Code have met with a mixed reaction. The Bar Council supports the move, but the response from Women’s Aid Organisation was lukewarm.
Effective last Friday, rape under the the Penal Code includes husbands who use violence to force sex on their wives. The penalties are up to 20 years’ jail and whipping.
Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said the Bar Council disapproves all forms of whipping but welcomes the government’s move.
"The provision is a step towards recognising marital rape as an offence and the Bar Council supports it. But like all rape cases the burden of proof would be the victim’s and they would have to show that they were assaulted by physical signs of struggle and injury.
"It’s easy to dismiss marital rape in court because it’s a case of his word against hers, and it normally crops up in divorce cases. But this shouldn’t deter our legislative system from dealing with the fact that rape occurs in marriage too," she said.
But Women’s Aid Organisation is less convinced. For the past 25 years, the non-governmental organisation has been supporting victims of domestic violence, setting up the first shelter for battered women in the country, and along with other women’s groups has played a role in the advocacy for legal protection against gender-based violence.
Programme officer Chin Oy Sim said the amendment to the Penal Code is a small, limited step forward. It should also be considered marital rape if the husband uses threats to force his wife to submit, for example, threatening to divorce her or take her children away. Or telling her he will go to a prostitute.
"Should husbands only be charged with rape if they use violence to force sex on their wives? The current amendment is a compromise, and there is no political will to criminalise marital rape itself, minus the physical threats or violence," she said.
Chin said this is reflected in the fact that no minimum jail sentence had been imposed.
"Does this mean a marital rape offender can get away with a one or two-week sentence? More needs to be done to criminalise marital rape. If a woman does not freely consent to sex, it is rape."
Good post.
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