A CIVIL society group today slammed the Attorney-General’s Chambers for failure to act against a Universiti Malaya lecturer accused of sexual harassment.

Agora Society of Malaysia said the AGC must explain the decision to drop the investigations against the lecturer.

“Such a decision has inevitably raised more questions than answers and we call for both the AGC and the university to be forthcoming,” it said in a statement.

Last week, Brickfields police chief Zairulnizam Mohd Zainuddin said it was the deputy public prosecutor’s (DPP) decision not to file charges.

“We received a report on July 15 from a 23-year-old female student who alleged that she was sexually harassed by a senior lecturer at the university.

“We opened an investigation into the case under Section 354 of the Penal Code before handing over the investigation papers to the DPP on August 13.”

Zairulnizam said after studying the statements given in the case, the DPP decided there were no charges against the suspect.

The decision was made after taking into account the fact that the university had taken internal action against the suspect.

Agora also asked if the disciplinary action taken by the university against the alleged perpetrator was equivalent to legal actions against a criminal act.

“Is it just and legal for law enforcements to be exempted or substituted by disciplinary actions carried out by non-legal institutions such as universities?

“As the university has asserted that disciplinary actions have been taken and proclaimed the accused as ‘the perpetrator’, does that mean concrete evidence of misconduct have been substantiated?”

The group asked if the alleged victim and the accused were granted a fair hearing.

“Is the university withholding evidence of sexual misconduct from the police? Why did the university not lodge any police report over such a serious matter?

“Is the alleged perpetrator a repeat offender as suggested by Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany)?”

Agora said the university should disclose the specific disciplinary actions taken against the perpetrator. – September 11, 2020.