Act likely to be tabled in March

Azalina: Police reports on child sexual crime cases have risen

KOTA TINGGI: The first and second reading of the Child Sexual Crime Act is likely to be tabled in Parliament in March next year, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman.

She said the Cabinet had agreed to set up a special court to deal with offences under the Act, as it would help to solve sexual crime cases involving children within a short period of time.

“Sexual crimes against young children usually happened at home and involved family members, thus, it will be hard for us to process evidence for such cases.

“Home should be the safest place for children and not a place of torment,” she said after launching the Women and Children Rights seminar at Dewan Besar in Bandar Penawar here yesterday.

Azalina said police reports on such cases had risen but the number of cases charged in court was comparably smaller due to insufficient evidence, adding that victims were usually children aged three and four years.

She said due to the long time taken to solve such cases, victims were unable to recall the horrifying incidents and some were ashamed to speak about the crime perpetrated on them when they were younger.

“We hope to solve such cases faster with the setting up of this special court and the initiative is also one of the reasons why we formed a task force to look at this issue as a whole.

“We have conducted meetings on this matter and the proposed Act has also been presented in Cabinet.

“As of now, we are waiting for the draft from the Attorney-General’s office before the terms of the Bill can be finalised, and will bring it to Parliament in March for the first and second reading,” she added.