KUALA LUMPUR: Rape cases involving underage women have elevated in the final three years and police consider most of them started with grooming by way of social media, together with chat functions like WhatsApp.
Bukit Aman’s Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director SAC Siti Kamsiah Hassan (pix) stated many of the victims advised police that they bought to know the perpetrators via social media.
“The majority of underage women who grew to become victims of rape advised investigating officers that they knew the perpetrators via social media like on-line chat boards first earlier than assembly them in particular person.
“This reveals that these women have undergone the grooming section with greetings of ‘hai’ and different phrases of reward, which leads to the sending of nude photographs by the ladies. This is adopted by the assembly section which ends in these women being raped, together with by gangs,” she advised eNM.
Police statistics present that 1,299 rape cases involving underage women have been reported in 2021, which elevated to 1,388 in 2022 and 1,590 in 2023.
Gang rapes involving underage women have been additionally on the rising pattern with 61 cases reported in 2021, in contrast to 103 cases in 2022 and 104 in 2023.
Siti Kamsiah stated aside from serving as a grooming platform, social media are additionally utilized by paedophiles to unfold baby sexual abuse materials to different people with the identical sexual orientation.
“They share their experiences of deceiving youngsters and the enjoyable of exploiting them,” she stated.
Siti Kamsiah stated the position of oldsters is essential in tackling the grooming difficulty.
“Instil in youngsters the necessity to set boundaries when socialising in the cyber world. Remind them to not freely share issues or indulge in acts prohibited by their customs, cultures and religions,” she added.
She suggested dad and mom to monitor the actions of their youngsters, particularly in the usage of telecommunication devices and gear.
“Most importantly, dad and mom ought to inculcate robust values in their youngsters in order that they may shrink back from any actions which are in opposition to ethical and non secular norms,” she stated.
At the identical time, dad and mom ought to enhance the self-awareness of their youngsters to forestall them from being exploited by paedophiles utilizing refined communication gear.
“They (youngsters) want to perceive what quantities to a menace to their well-being and the way to defend themselves,” she stated.
