©The New Straits Times (Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR: The law relating to homosexual offence is only codified in the Penal Code.
Lawyer and criminal law lecturer Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu said it was an offence whether sodomy was committed with or without consent.
Under section 337B, whoever commits sodomy with consent can be jailed up to 20 years and whipped.
Meanwhile, section 337C states a person who commits sodomy without consent can be punished a minimum five years and a maximum 20 years jail. The offender is also liable to be whipped.
Under the Criminal Procedure Code, a court can order the offender to be whipped up to 24 times although the person convicted is above 50 years of age.
Baljit said no woman or women could be charged for lesbianism as there was no provision in the law.
However, the public prosecutor could rely on section 377D for outraging of decency should a woman lodge a report against another for sexual violation. The punishment only carries a jail term up to two years.