LAST week, Twitter user @chairman_GLC shared a heartwrenching anecdote from a doctor in Kelantan about a teen who was abandoned by her family after being raped by her 16-year-old brother.
According to the doctor in charge of the teen’s case, she is currently almost seven months pregnant and instead of getting the guidance and support she needs, her parents had made a hasty decision to send her away to live with foster parents.
The pregnant teen told the doctor that the last time she saw her family was in November 2021 and that they forbade her to go back because they didn’t want anyone to find out about her pregnancy.
According to the doctor, the parents had initially lodged a police report but they retracted it at the very last minute because they were afraid that the brother would be sent to jail. However, the parents have since sent the brother to a religious boarding school, as two more sisters are living in the same house.
With teary eyes, the teen told the doctor how she couldn’t open up to her foster mother because she barely knew her foster family, and that she couldn’t talk to anyone as she didn’t own a mobile phone.
The teen also added that she feels anger toward her brother, and sadness because she can’t be in school like a normal teen. Besides that, her parents even told her that she could only come home after the baby is born.
According to @chairman_GLC, someone has agreed to adopt the baby and the case has caught the attention of the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia, who are now handling it.
Netizens were outraged by the story, and sympathised with how hard it must be for such a young girl to have to carry all these heavy emotions by herself.
The culture of victim-blaming and toxic patriarchy is gravely concerning, and we hope that there will be justice for the girl’s situation.
