Zara Qairina Case Marks First Prosecution Under Newly Amended Penal Code - Saifuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The case involving Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir is the first to be prosecuted under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2025, which stipulates bullying as a criminal offence, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said the amendment involving Sections 507B to 507G of the Penal Code strengthened the legal provisions against acts of bullying.

Saifuddin Nasution said since the amendment to Section 507 of the Penal Code was enforced and gazetted on July 11, police had opened 11 investigation papers related to bullying.

“These investigation papers fall under Sections 507B, 507C and so on. This shows that the strengthening of the law has enabled the police to take action.

“Now, in the case of Zara, for example, in which the accused were charged today, it is under one of the amended sections, making this the first case we have prosecuted (since the amendment),” he said when winding up the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) for the Home Ministry in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (MUDA-Muar), who raised the issue of the police’s allegedly slow response in investigating bullying cases, including a recent case in Johor.

The Penal Code (Amendment) 2025 Act and the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) 2025 Act, aimed at addressing bullying more effectively and comprehensively, including cyberbullying, were passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 10, 2024, and in the Dewan Negara on Dec 16 the same year.

Earlier today, five teenage girls were charged in the Children’s Court in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, with using insulting words against Zara Qairina. The charges were framed under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the Code, which carries a penalty of up to one year’s imprisonment, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.

In line with this legal development, Saifuddin Nasution said the ministry wanted the police to act swiftly in investigating every reported case of bullying.

At the same time, he reminded all parties not to play up sentiments or create inaccurate impressions as though there was an attempt to protect any individual or cover up matters.

“When I reviewed the chronology and sequence of the police investigation, with the large number of witness statements taken in detail, I also felt sad that, with all the police’s diligence, simply because of one part where the police were said to have failed, (which was) to conduct a post-mortem.

“Aug 4 was the first time the police submitted the investigation papers to the AG (Attorney General), and on Aug 3, Zara’s mother had lodged a police report after noticing bruises while bathing Zara’s body. So at the same time, in the investigation papers submitted to the AG, we recommended that Zara’s grave be exhumed,” he said.

Zara Qairina died at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital on July 17, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near the hostel of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha di Papar.

Meanwhile, apart from the Home Ministry, several other ministries also wound up debates on the 13MP motion for their respective ministries, including the National Unity Ministry.

-- BERNAMA