KUALA LUMPUR: Two Amendment Bills have been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat to address bullying, including offences committed online.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said tabled amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code on Monday (Dec 9).
According to the Penal Code (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2024, the proposed Act will cover bullying-related offences, which includes causing harassment, distress, fear, or alarm, and publishing identity information that causes such effects to a person.
Additionally, new sections such as 507B, 507C, 507D, 507E, 507F, and 507G will be added to the Penal Code (Act 574).
Under the proposed Amendment, Section 507B seeks to make it an offence for any person makes it an offence to make any threatening, abusive, or insulting words or communication or act that is likely to cause harassment, distress, fear, or alarm to a person.
The proposed punishment for this offence is imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both.
A prison term of up to one year, a fine, or both could be imposed for offences under Section 507C.
This new section addresses any act of bullying perceived by a person who feels harassed, distressed, fearful, or alarmed by such words, communication, or acts.
Another new subsection, 507D(1), deals with a person having reason to believe that harm would be caused to themselves or another person. This carries a punishment of imprisonment for up to one year, a fine, or both.
“The proposed new subsection 507(2) seeks to make it an offence for any person who, in any manner or by any means, uses or makes any threatening, abusive, or insulting words or communication against any person, or engages in any threatening, abusive, or insulting act towards any person, with intent to provoke the person to cause harm to himself or to any other person, or knowing or ought to know that the words, communication, or act are likely to provoke the person to cause harm to himself or to any other person,” read the bill.
The punishment for the proposed offence is imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, a fine, or both. If the person provoked attempts to commit suicide or commits suicide as a result of such provocation, the punishment for the proposed offence is imprisonment for a term that may extend to ten years, a fine, or both.
Meanwhile, section 507E seeks to make the circulation, publication, or availability of a person's identity or information, with the knowledge or intent to cause harm, harassment, distress, fear, or alarm to the person, an offence. This can lead to a prison term of up to three years, a fine, or both.
Similarly, the new subsection 507F(1) seeks to make the circulation and publication of a person's identity or information, with the intention that this will cause a person to believe that harm will be caused to themselves or a related person, an offence.
Another subsection, 507F(2), deals with the spread of such content that will facilitate harm to a person or their related person.
Offences under both these subsections carry imprisonment of up to one year, a fine, or both.
The amendments under the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2024 are consequential to the Amendments to the Penal Code.
