KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — A lawyer representing a 20-year-old woman who reported her father for sexual assault urged the police today to provide her an Interim Protection Order (IPO) as she has gone public with her allegations.
Lawyer Datuk K. Ganesh said it was crucial his client be given police protection as the father has not been prosecuted since his release from police custody two months ago.
He also questioned why charges have not been filed, before claiming that corroborative evidence in the form of voice recordings have been provided in relation to the case.
“It has come to the stage where my client is not bothered any more because her health and safety has been compromised with her living in fear of her life after a report was lodged on January 14.
“What I do not understand is why are the authorities dragging their feet and not applying for an IPO to protect my client but instead resigning her to the possibility of future assaults committed by her father.
“It is hard to believe that it takes so long for the AGC to come up with a decision where there is strong evidence against the perpetrator,” Ganesh told a press conference at his law firm here.
IPOs are court documents prohibiting perpetrators from committing abuse and are valid throughout the police investigation.
He also asserted that the father, who is said to be a “Datuk Seri” and owns several commercial properties, had boasted to the daughter about his arrest by the police and two-day remand in January, purportedly claiming he was not put in a lock-up despite news reports stating otherwise.
Asked about his client’s reason for turning to social media where she detailed her experiences, Ganesh said desperation drove his client to tell-all in public as she stood to lose nothing.
Also present during the press conference was the woman’s elder sister, who described the risks the siblings faced from the father after the report was lodged against him.
She alleged of blackmail and threats in the form of text messages and photos.
A voice recording of a conversation in Tamil and English, said to be between the father and the younger daughter on alleged sexual grooming that took place in July last year, was also played during the press conference.
She also claimed that investigators informed her that 230 sexual crimes were committed against her younger sister.
City police chief Commissioner Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin told reporters on January 26 that the investigation was completed and had been submitted to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) for the next course of action.
Yesterday, City Criminal Investigations Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Saiful Annuar Yusoff told Malay Mail the investigation paper was still with the deputy public prosecutors and that they were waiting for further instructions.
Ganesh said he would sue the police for inaction should anything untoward happened to his client, since the police was responsible for safeguarding public safety and therefore answerable for their alleged failure in performing said duties.
He also briefly revealed that he decided to take on the girl’s case as he felt wrong to turn them away since he would then failed in his duty as a human being and a lawyer, adding that he wished not to see a similar predicament befall any other person.
The young woman first went to the Dang Wangi police headquarters on January 14 and filed a report against her father, claiming he had sexually assaulted her five days earlier at her home.
She further said it was not the first time as the sexual and physical assaults had been ongoing for roughly 10 years.
Following her police complaint, her father, in his 50s, was arrested at his home in the capital city. He was remanded for two days and then released on police bail.
After waiting days and seeing no legal action, the young woman turned to social media where she detailed her experiences and sought the public’s help to encourage authorities to expedite the matter.
She claimed her father was an influential person who could get any case against him dropped.
In one post on Instagram, she even alleged that her father had the capability of snuffing out her life.
In a subsequent post, she included a cropped copy of the police report she had filed against her father and detailed what she went through at his hands. She claimed she had confided in her mother but was met with disbelief.
She claimed that if she rejected her father’s advances or messages, he would deny her and her siblings access to their daily necessities.
