KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 775 police reports were lodged so far this year relating to various forms of sexual harassment, says Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff.
"So far this year, a total of 474 reports were lodged under Section 354 of the Penal Code, 35 reports under Section 377D and 266 reports under Section 509 of the same Act," the Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister said when replying to a question raised by Noorita Sual (PH-Tenom) in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Nov 15).
Section 354 involves the crime of molestation, while Section 377D deals with indecent exposure and Section 509 involves insulting a person's modesty.
Earlier, Siti Zailah said that cases of alleged sexual harassment are currently dealt with through several laws such as the Penal Code, Employment Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act.
She said that the proposed Sexual Harassment Bill was still awaiting approval from the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC).
"Once approved by the AGC, the white paper will then be submitted to the Cabinet for approval before it can be tabled in Parliament.
"The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat for its first reading before the end of this session on Dec 16," she said.
She said the new law will specially deal with incidents of sexual harassment in a comprehensive manner.
"The process of examining the Bill needs to be done in detail so that the law will be able to overcome loopholes which may exist in the existing laws including its eventual implementation," she said.
When asked by Datuk Seri Azizah Mohd Dun (PN-Beaufort) for a specific time frame before the white paper is approved by the AGC, Siti Zailah said she hoped it could be done by this week.
Meanwhile, she said that her ministry has conducted 53 awareness programmes related to sexual harassment involving 11,367 participants so far this year.
On Sept 12, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun issued a statement, saying that the draft Bill was with the AGC awaiting approval.