KUALA LUMPUR: Two amendment Bills have been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat for the first reading to tackle bullying, including online cases.
Amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code were tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said yesterday.
Both Bills are slated for the second reading in the current meeting of the Dewan Rakyat.
The Penal Code (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2024 covers bully- related offences, including publishing identity and information leading to harassment, distress, fear or alarm to a person.
Among the proposed additions to the Penal Code (Act 574) are Sections 507B to 507G.
Section 507B makes it an offence for any person who uses, makes or engages in any threatening, abusive or insulting words, communication or act, with intent to cause, or knowing or ought to know, that harassment, distress, fear or alarm to a person would result.
The proposed punishment for this offence is a maximum three-year jail term, a fine or both.
A prison term of up to one year, a fine or both could be imposed for offences under 507C, which deals with bullying (heard, seen or otherwise) that causes a person to feel harassed, distressed, fear or alarmed by such words, communication or acts.
Subsection 507D (1), which imposes a prison term of up to one year, a fine or both, deals with a person who has reason to believe that harm would be caused on themselves or another.
Subsection 507 (2), punishable with a jail term which may extend to one year, a fine or both, makes it an offence for any person who uses, makes or engages, in any threatening, abusive or insulting words, communication or act against any person, with intent to provoke the other to cause harm to himself or to another.
A person, who knowingly or ought to know that the words, communication or act are likely to provoke the other to cause harm to himself or to any other person, is also punishable.
This subsection also provides that if the person so provoked attempts to commit suicide or commits suicide as a result of such provocation, the punishment is imprisonment for a term that may extend to 10 years, a fine or both.
Meanwhile, Section 507E, punishable with a prison term of up to three years, a fine or both, makes it an offence to circulate, publish or make available the identity or information of a person with the knowledge or intent to cause harm, harassment, distress, fear or alarm to the person.
While Subsection 507F (1) makes the circulation and publication of a person’s identity or information with the intention to cause a person to believe that harm will be caused to themselves or a related person an offence, Subsection 507F (2) deals with the spread of such content.
Offences under these subsections carry a jail term 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 Penal Code amendments.
