DAP's Kulai parliamentarian Teo Nie Ching has expressed concern over the low rate of conviction in domestic violence cases in recent years, despite the rising number of cases.

"The low conviction rate will surely discourage the victims from lodging police reports against the abusers, as it is highly likely that the abusers will be let off the hook without even being charged in court.

"The situation needs to be improved urgently or this is tantamount to giving a free licence to the aggressors," she said in a statement.

Referring to statistics given by Deputy Home Minister Masir Anak Kujat in the Dewan Rakyat today, Teo noted that the conviction rate for domestic violence is extremely low, despite the increase in cases.

"In 2014, (a total of) 1,462 cases were brought to court for prosecution; the number decreased slightly to 1,440 in 2015. Also, there were 358 convictions in 2014, but the number shrunk to 145 in 2015," she said.

Teo said if the number of convictions for January 2016 was taken into consideration, the average conviction rate is merely 14.4 percent.

"In contrast, there were 4,730 cases brought to court under Child Act 2001 between 2011 and September 2015. Of this, 4,021 or 85% of the cases were convicted. This is in sharp contrast to the conviction rate of domestic violence," said the DAP lawmaker.

She also said the latest figures given by the deputy minister on domestic violence in the House is "shocking and alarming" as it showed a sharp rise.

"According to previous answers provided, the cases of domestic violence in 2010 numbered 3,173. However, by 2015, the total cases reported have increased to 5,014. That was an increase of 58% in merely six years," she said.