KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian police have detained 13 men and are still looking for other suspects following allegations that a 15-year-old girl was raped by 38 men in an abandoned hut, a report said on Friday.
The media reported that the assault took place in the Northern state of Kelantan on May 20 when the girl met a girlfriend and was lured to an empty hut reported to be a local drug haunt.
It said that the men took turns to rape her for hours.
Police said they were also investigating whether her 17-year-old friend was also raped.
Report says the alleged attack, which is one of several brutal cases this week underscoring the violence to which women are being subjected across Asia, sparked outrage among women.
Politicians from a Muslim party running in the region said that their proposal to introduce Islamic hudud law with harsh penalties would deter offenders.
State and federal police officers either declined comment or could not be immediately reached.
Media accounts, quoting information from district police chief, Azham Otham, said that 38 men were involved in the crime.
The reports said that several of those detained had tested positive for amphetamine.
It added that a man and his two teenage sons were among those detained.
However, police said action could have been taken had villagers reported the addicts’
presence.
“It is very disturbing to me that no one in the village was even suspicious when the closest neighbour was a mere 20 metres away,’’ police chief, Azham said.
According to police statistics, almost 3,000 rape cases were reported to the police in 2012, of which 52 per cent involved girls of 16 and below.
Convicted rapists face up to 30 years in prison and whipping, but many on
Internet sites wanted stricter punishment.
(Reuters/NAN)
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