Arising out of a swimming pool misunderstanding where Mughilan (14) was alleged to have at worst accidently touched a young girl while swimming. The policeman slapped Mughilan 3 times on the cheek, handcuffed him to his motorcycle and brought him to the police station. Mughilan started sobbing and repeated that he had not done any wrong.
Children are naturally naughty and should be protected and not punished under any legal system in any part of the world. Just because two police reports were lodged by Mughilan against the police, he was slapped with a charge under Section 354 of the Penal Code for outraging modesty and criminal force in outraging modesty which carries a ten year jail term whipping and a fine.
How could a 14 year old boy use force on an 8 year old girl in a public area swimming pool at 6.15 p.m which is peak time with scores of other swimmers? Yang Arif Attorney General Tan Sri Gani Patail and the Malay-sian Polis Raja Di Malay-sia will now applying Malay-sian standards of justice.P. Uthayakumar appeared before the KL Malay-sian Juvenile Courts Magistret Puan Suhaily binti Samsudin this morning, 26/1/11, applying that Mughilan be released after advising (if necessary) further to Section 93 (1) (9) or (b) of the Child Act 2001.
The DPP objected when the DPP wanted another mention date as the documents under section 51A of the Evidence Act for purposes of the trial were not ready. Uthayakumar urged the Court to dismiss the charge on the grounds of it being groundless further to Section 173 (g) of the Criminal procedure Code and mala fide especially so when Mughilan has already served 2 ½ months jail without even being found guilty.Uthayakumar also submitted that Mughilan was denied his Birth Certificate and Identity Card and given it only last year. So he could not attend secondary school (The Tamil school headmaster admitted him to school off the record). But the secondary school Malay-sian headmaster refused to admit Mughilan to school (like thousands of other Indian poor). Mughilan, his parents and grandparents are all born in Malaysia but have been made stateless together with an estimated 450,000 other even 4th, 5th and 6th generation Indians.
The racist and biased Magistret Puan Suhaily Samsudin turned down Uthayakumar’s application.
Uthayakumar repeated that Mughilan’s mother, a cleaner who only earns RM 450 per month could not afford the RM 1,700 bail despite 2 ½ months now since Mughilan’s imprisonment. Uthayakumar took out his wallet and appealed that he had RM 300 to help out and asked for the bail to be reduced to RM 300 so that Mughilan could go home with his mother.
The Malay-sian Magistret yet again turned down Uthayakumar’s appeal and sent Mughilan back to jail upholding the racist malay-sian standards of justice.
Would the Malay-sian Magistret have done the same had Mughilan’s name been Mohamed bin Abdullah?
Both Mughilan and his mother were in tears as Mughilan was taken back to jail. No bail money and no legal fees, no justice, and long jail sentences to thousands of Indians in One Malay-sia. Uthayakumar is attending to Mughilan’s case on a pro bono basis.
Uthayakumar is preparing a Revision (Appeal) to the High Court.
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate Justice
