Human rights lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan has slammed suggestions by Kelantan police that girls under 16 involved in statutory rape cases should be referred to religious authorities, calling the proposal legally indefensible and morally wrong.

In a statement, Rajesh said a child below 16 cannot consent to sex under Malaysian law, stressing that describing such cases as “consensual” wrongly relabels victims as offenders while shielding perpetrators from accountability.

“This is a...