FEDERAL police today denied that Deputy Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani made light of reports of teen rape by describing them as “a joke”.

Bukit Aman IGP Secretariat Corporate Communications denied Acryl described it as a joke, as reported in news portal Malaysiakini and China Press.

“Every report that we receive will be looked at seriously,” a Bukit Aman statement read, adding no report is treated as a joke.

“The headlines from the two news outlets have created confusion as it did not represent the true meaning that was made during the press conference.

“It is the media’s responsibility to avoid the wrong perception among the public as investigations are still ongoing.”

The statement from Bukit Aman was referring to two articles published on April 26 on Malaysiakini’s website with the heading “Deputy IGP describes rape threat against teen as maybe a joke” and a China Press heading, “Pelajar wanita dihina bergurau”.

Earlier today, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said Acryl Sani’s remarks did not only trivialise the imminent threat to the 17-year-old school girl, Ain Husniza Mohd Saiful, 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.

Over the weekend Ain Huznisa had written 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.

Below is the transcript of the press conference as released by Bukit Aman:

Question from reporter (inaudible)

Minute: 09:20 – 09:31

Deputy IGP
Minute 09:31 – 10:39
As of now, I was told the student has made two police reports. The first was on what she felt, focusing on the teacher’s action, and last night she made another police report on perhaps the jokes by classmates cannot be accepted. – April 27, 2021.