Malaysian school system faces crisis after 4 arrested for second gang rape

The revelation of a second alleged gang rape in a Malaysian school has heaped pressure on the education ministry to get to grips with alleged failures in child protection, especially after mounting speculation that videos of the sexual assaults are being sold over the dark web.

Eight teenage boys have been arrested by police in two separate cases over the past fortnight. In both cases, the suspects were caught after videos of the alleged rape were discovered by teachers in their schools.

In the latest case, three students and a former pupil of a school in a rural town in northern Kedah state were arrested late on Sunday. The father of the victim had lodged a police report earlier that day after a disciplinary teacher informed him of a viral video showing his daughter naked.

The four suspects have been remanded for five days and police have seized six mobile phones to aid investigations, police told local media on Thursday, saying the alleged assaults took place inside the school compound over several months.

Last week, police in Malacca state – nearly 600km (310 miles) south of Kedah – arrested four high school students for allegedly gang raping a 15-year-old girl on October 2, and recording the assault on a mobile phone.