RAPE
LAWS RELATING TO RAPE
According to the Penal Code Section 376, a man
is said to have committed rape if he has sexual intercourse with a woman
under any of the following conditions or circumstances:
Against her will. Although the woman is capable of giving her consent, she willfully and consciously rejects sexual intercourse with a man, but is forced into it.Without her consent. Sexual intercourse may take place without the woman's consent because she is incapable of giving her consent, For example, she may have been drugged and as such may have been unconscious at the time of the incident. This can also apply to a person who is incapable of giving a conscious consent to the act due to mental deficiency or insanity.
With her consent, but the consent was obtained as a result of putting fear in the woman of hurt or death to herself or any other person, or when the consent obtained under a misconception of fact and the man knows or has reason to believe that the consent was given in consequent of such a misconception. For example, when a bomoh or a sinseh promises to cure a girl of some form of ailment provided she has sex with him, even though he knows that the sexual act does in no way contribute towards the healing. It also applies to a bogus physician who rapes a patient while pretending to give medical treatment.
With her consent, but the man knows that he is not her husband, and her consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married or to whom she would consent With her consent but when at the time of consent, she is unable to understand the nature and consequence of that to which she gives consent. This could be if she is drunk or is high on drugs.
With or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years of age. This is because children and teenagers below this age are deemed by the nature of this immature judgement, legally unable to give consent.
The Penal Code also states that penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual intercourse necessary to the offence of rape. By penetration it is meant even partial penetration or the slightest degree of entrance of the penis into the labia or vulva or pendendrum with or without the emission of semen.
The exception to the Law is in the case of a man having sexual intercourse with his wife without her consent within a marriage which is valid under any written law for the time being in force, or is recognised by the state as valid, is not rape. However, the Law recognises that rape takes place if a woman is forced to have sex by her husband while she is living separately from him under a decree of judicial separation or a decree nisi not made absolute, or if the woman has obtained an injunction restraining her husband from having sexual intercourse with her.
Punishment for
rape
Section 376 of the Penal Code states that whoever commits rape shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than
twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping.
•
Rape: It's not your falut!
•
The hospital examination
• The accused: What happens
to him
•
What happens next?
• Laws relating to rape
•
How to help a rape survivor
•
Book on rape:
Shame, Secrecy and Silence – Study of Rape in
Penang.