Men convicted of raping minors will serve the mandatory prison term when Section 376 of the Penal Code is amended soon, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

He said the amendment was proposed to maintain the mandatory imprisonment under Section 376 and judges would have no liberty to resort to other legal provisions to mitigate the sentence.

A bill to amend the section will be tabled at the next session of the Dewan Rakyat, he told reporters after launching a leadership programme organised by the National Association of Women's Institute of Malaysia in Padang Rengas today.

Nazri said the Attorney-General's Chambers had given the green light to amend Section 376 of the Penal Code to ensure that those convicted of raping underage girls would get the mandatory jail term of not more than 30 years.

6,000 cases over the past five years

The amendment was proposed to maintain the mandatory imprisonment under Section 376 and judges could not invoke Section 294 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593) to impose a sentence based on their discretion.

Nazri said over 6,000 cases of underage girls having sex were recorded for the past five years.

He welcomed High Court judge Zakaria Sam's decision to sentence electrician Chuah Guan Jiu to 10 years and six months' jail for two counts of statutory rape.

Chuah, 22, was earlier found guilty by the Sessions Court, but was spared custodial sentence. Instead, the court ordered that he be bound over on a three-year RM25,000 good behaviour bond.

- Bernama