Man who slapped woman for not wearing tudung arrested (Updated)

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Police have arrested a man who had allegedly slapped an Indonesian woman for not wearing a tudung at the Taman Perwira bus stop in Bukit Tengah here recently.
Central Seberang Perai district police chief ACP Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid today said his officers had detained the suspect, who is from Ipoh, at Jalan Taman Perwira, Bukit Tengah about 10.30pm yesterday after two reports were lodged over the matter.
Nik Ros Azhan said the suspect did not have any previous criminal record.
"However, the suspect has admitted that he pushed the victim as he was angry that she was not wearing a tudung and scolded the victim, calling her gila (crazy)," Nik Ros told reporters here.
A six-minute and 12 second video has been circulating on social media for the past week showing the suspect verbally abusing a factory worker before he assaulted the 24-year-old woman.
It was initially thought that the incident took place near a Bukit Jambul bus stop, but further checks by the police showed that the incident took place near Bukit Mertajam.
The victim had initially kept quiet but she lodged a report on the incident yesterday, two weeks after the incident.
Initial investigation revealed that the man had behaved aggressively as he was upset that a Muslim woman had refused to wear a headscarf in public.
Nik Ros Azhan added that the police had sent the suspect to Bukit Mertajam Hospital for a medical check-up.
He said the police would investigate the case under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt.
If found guilty, the suspect will be facing one-year imprisonment or RM2,000 fine or both.
In another development, State Women Affairs committee chairperson Chong Eng told a press conference that women who were victims of abuse must come forward to lodge reports without fear.
She also touched on sexual harassment cases at workplaces, which she said was on the rise; including cases of female journalists, who were also subjected to indirect forms of harassment.
Chong said Malaysia has declared that this year is devoted to the subject of women empowerment.
She urged legislators to come up with better laws to protect women from any form of abuse and she urged employers to set up units within their human resource departments to handle complaints of such nature.