A Malaysian court on Wednesday refused to throw out attempt to murder charges against 31 ethnic Indians for allegedly causing injury to a policeman during a rally last month, rejecting the defence's contention that the case was "racially and politically motivated".
If convicted, they face 20 years behind bars. All 31 have pleaded not guilty.
While 26 people were charged on Tuesday with attempt to murder, five more ethnic Indians were slapped with the same charge on Wednesday in connection with the protest organised by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) near the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Batu Caves on November 25 to protest against the alleged marginalization of the community in the multi-racial country.
"The charges have basis and are not defective," Sessions Court judge Azimah Omar ruled.
Judge Azimah ordered that all the accused, aged between 18 and 45, be detained at the Shah Alam Police Headquarters here. Submissions for bail will be heard on Thursday, she said.
Seventeen lawyers led by M Manoharan were representing the accused. However, three lawyers withdrew from the case without stating any reason. The country's Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail made a personal appearance at the Sessions Court here to lay charges which was questioned by the defence saying it would intimidate the judge.
Terming the case as "vindictive and malicious", defence lawyers said the charges amounted to a violation of the constitutional right to "worship and assemble".
K Ganesan, the defence counsel, claimed that 500 policemen had fired tear gas and water cannon on the crowd after locking the temple gate and had beaten up worshippers.
"It is the police who should have been charged with attempted murder. It's vindictive and malicious prosecution. It is racially and politically motivated against the Indians," Ganesan said.
The defence had applied for a postponement of hearings until Thursday, saying that the accused were not in the state of mind to have the charges read because the police had detained them at 2 am and had not given them food and drinks until they were taken to the court at 4 pm.
Manoharan also questioned the attorney-general's move to personally lead the prosecution team. He said he feared that Abdul Gani's presence would intimidate the judge, Bernama news agency reported.
Gani retorted by asking the defence team to act professionally and not raise issues which smacked of racism in court.
On the defence's contention that the accused were not in the state of mind to understand the charges, he said they could opt to plead guilty or claim trial.
The judge refused to grant temporary bail as it had not been raised by both the prosecution and defence.
The men were also charged with damaging public property and illegal assembly, while some were charged with rioting.
Indians form eight percent of Muslim majority Malaysia's population of 27 million people.
The police crackdown on atleast 20,000 ethnic Indians that had gathered in large groups near the Petronas twin towers and Batu Caves area had created a furore in India with the government summoning the Malaysian envoy. The rally was called by Hindraf which said that Indians continued to be marginalised in this country, a charge denied by the Malaysian government.
The Hindraf in a memorandum which it wanted to hand over to British High Commission here said the British were to to be blamed for bringing their ancestors 150 years ago as indentured labourers and for their current woes.
The Hindraf has also demanded a compensation of four trillion dollars from the British government.
Meanwhile, a senator has hit out at Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar, who accused the government of practising ethnic cleansing of Indians in the country and marginalising them.
He said Hindraf's accusations about ethnic cleansing and oppression of Indians in the country could not be accepted.
The Vice-president of the Malaysian Indian Congress S. Veerasingam said Hindraf should stop running down the country abroad, Bernama said.
Source: The Hindu
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