DEPUTY police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani has come under fire from a member of parliament for trivialising a rape threat reported by a teenager after she called out a male teacher for allegedly joking about rape.

Acryl Sani had described the rape threat against Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam, 17, as a likely joke by her classmates. She had received the threat after she complained on social media about a teacher’s inappropriate remarks on the same subject.

Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said Acryl Sani’s remarks did not only trivialise the imminent threat to Ain Husniza but also appeared to condone violence against women.
 
“In the case of Ain Huznisa, a threat had already been made by one of her classmates and this puts her life in imminent danger and cannot be trivialised.

“The deputy IGP’s appalling statement has thrown a spanner in the works for the decades of efforts made by the women’s movement and other authorities to have zero tolerance against violence against women,” said Maria Chin.

She urged Acryl Sani to make an immediate public apology and for the police force to work on getting rid of such attitudes.

She said action must be taken against the teacher who made the rape joke and the student who made the rape threat.

Over the weekend Ain Huznisa wrote on social media that her physical education teacher had made jokes about rape, including telling boys in class that if they were to commit rape, they should target victims aged above 18.

Following the post, she said she received an audio message from a male classmate who was unhappy about her expose and had threatened her.

“If I get you, I will shred you or rape you and send you to Thailand,” the classmate said in the recording shared by Ain Husnisa.

She filed police reports about the teacher as well as the classmate.

Acryl Sani had confirmed this, saying it was possible a classmate was playing a joke on her.

“The student has filed two police reports. The first is over what she felt was an improper approach by her teacher.

“The second report is regarding what may be a joke from her classmate, which she couldn’t accept,” Acryl Sani had said at a press conference in Shah Alam.

He said police had opened an investigation into the case and were taking down statements. – April 27, 2021.