Sisters in Islam (SIS) is outraged on the lax penalty doled out to Mohd Redzuan Zakarian who has been found guilty of molesting his five year old pupil last year.

The victim had complained of experiencing pain on her private parts after returning from religious classes at the accused’s house in Sungai Besi on Feb 9, 2017. The mother examined her daughter and found redness on the victim’s genital area before bringing her to a hospital.

The Quran teacher was charged with outraging the girl’s modesty and has been sentenced to three months jail and fined RM6,000 in default of six months jail.

While the charge, under Section 354 of the Penal Code, provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine or whipping or any two of the penalties, upon conviction, the magistrate’s lenient sentence is equivalent to a slap on the wrist and does not do justice in reflecting the severity of the violation.

We trust religious teachers to educate our children on spirituality and magistrates to uphold justice. If neither of are able to bring about redemption in a despicable case like this, then we are further away than we thought in safeguarding the rights of children in our country and protecting them from violence and harm.

We call for justice for the victim whereby punishment of the perpetrator must fit the crime that has been committed. The ordeal of trauma experienced by such a young victim must be taken seriously into account and reflect that we, as a society, find such vile acts completely unacceptable.

Sisters in Islam
23 June 2018