In the incident which took place at the Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Kuantan, the victim is said to have had her uniform and hair cut while she was asleep in her dormitory.

Rural development minister Mahdzir Khalid, whose ministry is in charge of Mara, said its board of governors had once expelled a student for bullying others at an MRSM in Penang.

“If the disciplinary board ascertains that a student had indeed bullied another, he or she could be expelled. This was the case at the MRSM in Kepala Batas.

“We take bullying cases seriously and Mara has strict standard operating procedures to deal with it.

“We have reported the matter to the police to let them carry out further investigations,” he told reporters at the 2022 Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro-Tourism Exhibition in Serdang.

The victim’s mother, Nazrah Mohamed, claimed that her daughter’s hair and school uniform were cut by bullies at the Kuantan MRSM.

In detailing her daughter’s ordeal on Facebook, she said her daughter noticed that someone had scribbled on her uniform on June 17.

Later, her daughter found that her uniform had been slashed, with its sleeves cut off.

She also revealed that her daughter’s hair was sheared off while she was asleep in her dormitory.

According to Nazrah, despite her repeated complaints to the school’s administrators, they appeared to be indifferent to her daughter’s plight at the hands of the bullies.

“The bullying has been ongoing until today and there are elements of bodily contact.

“Is MRSM waiting for someone to die before it takes action?” she said in her post.

She plans to sue the school if there is no appropriate response from its administrators.

Meanwhile, Kuantan district police chief Wan Zahari Wan Busu said it had received two reports concerning the incident on Aug 8 and 12, with a probe opened under Section 427 of the Penal Code.

The section concerns offences of mischief and causing losses or damage, which carries a jail term of one to five years or a fine upon conviction.

Wan Zahari said police would be visiting the school today to identify other students who may be able to provide information on the incident.

“We have spoken to the victim and two of her roommates, as well as obtained statements from the school principal and a warden,” he told FMT.