KARPAL SUGGESTS DEATH PENALTY FOR CHILD RAPISTS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (BERNAMA) -- An opposition party DAP National Chairman
Karpal Singh Saturday called upon the government to amend Section 376 of the
Penal Code to provide for the death penalty for child rapists.

Karpal said although he had been an advocate for the abolition of the death
penalty, in light of the daily occurrences of crimes against children, in
particular, instances of rape against them, it was time for the government to
act in the public interest which demanded the introduction of measures which
were bold and effective.

"This is to send a clear message to would-be offenders that the law will not
tolerate anymore the rape of innocent children," he said in a statement here
Saturday.

Karpal said the recent alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl while being driven
from school in a school bus by the driver brought into sharp focus the dire
necessity of reviewing the penalty for such offences.

He said the punishment for rape of a child under the age of 12 under Section
376(2)(e) of the Penal Code was a term of imprisonment which might extend to 30
years together with whipping.


Undoubtedly, he said the guilt of the accused must be proven beyond any
reasonable doubt and of course in cases where an accused was caught red-handed
in the act itself supported by the evidence of credible eye witnesses, there
should be no difficulty in proving the case beyond reasonable doubt.

"I am mindful of the danger of the execution of an innocent man. The
execution of the death penalty is irreversible. The horror suffered by an
innocent man condemned to death at the instance of the State is beyond
imagination," he said.

However, he said the magnitude of the offence of rape of an innocent child
in broad daylight in the observance of eye witnesses must attract the need to
amend the law.

The Democratic Action Party, or DAP is a secular, multi-racial, social
democratic/democratic socialist Malaysian political party, and is one of the
three major opposition parties in Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA



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