KLANG: The three Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) members charged for sedition, at the Sessions Court here last Friday, were given a discharge not amounting to acquittal by the same court Monday.
The trio had been charged under the Sedition Act for allegedly uttering seditious words to incite hate in their speeches made at a gathering in Batang Berjuntai on Nov 16.
In delivering her decision Judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris said the charge against lawyers P. Uthayakumar, P. Waythamoorthy and V.S. Ganapathi Rao, appeared to be ambiguous because the prosecution had failed to provide original transcripts of the Tamil speeches.
Only uncertified Malay translations of the speeches were attached to the charge sheets.
According to Zunaidah, the prosecution should have transcribed the speeches in the original language first before translating them into Malay.
An accredited translator must also certify the transcription and translation, said Zunaidah.
She added that since the translation was not certified, it was not known if it was an accurate version of the Tamil speeches made by the three defendants.
All these factors, said Zunaidah, resulted in the court being unclear and unconvinced with the charge brought against Uthayakumar, Waythamoorthy and Ganapathi Rao.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusof said the original transcripts would be provided during the trial.
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