Malaysian woman spared caning

A Malaysian model, who was arrested for drinking alcohol in a public place, has been spared her punishment of caning, for now.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a mother of two, was to become the first woman to be caned in Malaysia but now her sentence has been spared, according to Al Jazeera. Authorities had picked up the part-time model and nurse from her father's house on Monday morning and drove her to the police station however, as they were in the middle of their destination they turned around and dropped her off back at her father's place. Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, Kartika's father, said, "They sent her back to the house. They said the top official asked them not to bring her to Kuala Lumpur." The details have not been released if the girl's sentence was dropped or just postponed. It is also unclear who decided to call off the caning. All what is known, according to a Pahang's Islamic Affairs department official, Kartika was freed from "higher authorities." "Now I am frightened and I am going to the police station to make a report. I don’t want them to say that Kartika ran away when they came here. I want them to know she was returned," Mutallib said.