Religious studies teacher guilty of molesting five-year-old gets three months prison

EF’s employer poured boiling water on her twice, with the help of EF’s stepsister and the house’s security guard. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
EF’s employer poured boiling water on her twice, with the help of EF’s stepsister and the house’s security guard. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Malaysian netizens are up in arms after a woman shared a brief newspaper clipping of the sentence handed to a religious studies teacher who was found guilty of sexually abusing a five-year-old girl.

Mohd Redzuan Zakarian was sentenced yesterday to a three-month jail term, along with an RM6,000 (US$1500) fine after molesting his child pupil who attended his Quran classes. The defense was unable to raise any reasonable doubt and the 33-year-old “religious” man was then sentenced.

Redzuan is the father on one young child, and the incident occurred at his house in Sungai Besi in February of last year.

While the charge holds a maximum sentence of 10 years, a fine, as well as a whipping upon conviction, the judge’s lenient sentence raised more than a few eyebrows, and a whole lotta rage, online.

Twitter user Alia A was particularly aghast at the rather sympathetic treatment a convicted child abuser, a man who claims to teach religious morals, could receive by the courts.

She additionally called for a pox for all of those so-called authorities tasked with policing religion, claiming that the religion will fall from race-baiting and fear-mongering, rather than by system that allows sex offenders to walk away relatively unscathed.

Many were in agreement, asking where our moral compass was at, and also – when will that publicly-accessible sex offender registry become a thing?

Accountability guys – if we’re willing to gut the inner workings of the government in search of corruption, maybe it’s time to start asking ourselves if it’s OK to let convicted pedophiles walk with a slap on the wrist.



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