Raping an Underage girl- 2 years . Stealing a laptop- 4 years.

A Johore Sessions court judge sentenced the rapist, Musa Ahmad to 2 years jail and 1 stroke of the rottan for raping an underage girl 11 times, resulting in the girl giving birth to a child. A Magistrate court judge sentenced a laptop thief, Baharuddin Omar, to 4 years and 3 strokes of the rottan. How do the judges decide on the type of punishment? Obviously the 2 types punishment meted out by the 2 judges showed a wide gap of discrepancies and unfairness. Do not judges have some kind of guidelines to help them make a decision? If it is to be left to their own descretion, then woe betide the accuse if he has to face an angry and emotional judge, or a judge who had just quarrelled with the spouse. A judge is another human being and is subject to all kinds of emotions and influences. Baharuddin Omar probably had the misfortune to face a judge who was probably not in his best disposition. But is it fair to subject an accusec to such a situation? What recourse does an accuse have if the punishment meted on him had been too excessive? If it is a high profile case, there is all the publicity in the news media. But who is going to take up Baharuddin Omar's case,(punishment too excessive) and Musa Ahmad's case (punishment too linient)?