P.Uthayakumar in the dock at the Court of Appeal. Racist and vindictive UMNO. Sessions Judge who dismissed criminal charges in turn prosecuted for unheard of criminal offence.

P.Uthayakumar in the dock at the Court of Appeal. Racist and vindictive UMNO. Sessions Judge who dismissed criminal charges in turn prosecuted for unheard of criminal offence.
This morning was fixed for hearing of the second set of Sedition charges against P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and another.
At the Court of Appeal this morning it was disheartening seeing P. Uthayakumar, a lawyer of 20 years standing in the dock for merely championing minority Indian rights but in Malay-sia.
In 2007, P. Uthayakumar together with P. Waytha Moorthy launched a nationwide campaign against the UMNO led Malay-sian government’s racist, religious extremist and supremacist agenda in excluding the Indians from the national mainstream development of Malaysia which had peaked in the 25^th November 2007 100,000 people Hindraf Rally.
In the last of the Hindraf nationwide public forums, P. Uthayakumar and P. Waytha Moorthy were peacefully campaigning by delivering a speech at Kuala Selangor. When issues and examples were given on the discrimination and exclusion of the Indians from the national mainstream development of Malaysia, this was deemed Sedition by UMNO which had instructed it’s Attorney General to prosecute P. Uthayakumar and P. Waytha Moorthy and another with Sedition.
The Sessions Court Judge Puan Junaidah had on 23/11/2010 granted a token bail of RM 300.00 each and had allowed a cash bail as it was already 6.00 p.m and the banks would have been closed and had on 26/11/2007 ie one day after the 25^th November 2007 100,000 Hindraf Rally 26/11/2007 dismissed the charges against P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and another on the grounds that the charges were groundless further to Section 114 (g) of the criminal Procedure Code when the charge sheet did not even have the Tamil translation of the alleged Seditions words uttered. UMNO must have taken this Judge’s actions as non Kow-towing to them.
Why the great hurry in this prosecution. Justice hurried is Justice buried!
For this, this Sessions Court Judge was punished by being immediately moved to a desk job at the Attorney General’s Chambers and then prosecuted for an unknown and unprecedented offence of tampering with judicial notes. We now hear that this Judge has been forced to plead guilty and therefore losses her job, pension, benefits emoluments etc.
This is the price the rare and courageous Judge has to pay for doing her job in the Malaysian Judiciary.
The prosecution had appealed to the High Court Judge on the 10^th of December, just three days before P. Uthayakumar’s arrest under the ISA. Justice Abang Abu Bakar who just until a few months before hearing this case had been objected to by P. Uthayakumar’s lawyers as he was a subordinate of his immediate past boss the Attorney General Tan Sri Gani Patail who had personally appeared before this very same learned High Court Judge.
Repeated applications for an adjournment as P. Uthayakumar and Manoharan Malayalam were acting as Counsels in the Court next door hearing the public interested bail application of some 50 over Hindraf supporters was repeatedly rejected it was so obvious! Independent Judiciary?
As anticipated, this Judge had refused to recluse himself and in any event had allowed the Attorney general’s appeal and set this matter for trial again before the Sessions Court.
P. Uthayakumar’s lawyer Manoharan Malayalam had in the interim appealed to the Court of Appeal and which came up for hearing this morning. But the same was adjourned to 17/7/2010 as the Appeal records were not in order.
The Attorney General is even objecting to the ten days delay in filing the Notice of Appeal even when three days later Manoharan Malayalam himself was detained without trial or conviction under the ISA.
The Attorney General is so vindictive to the point of even exhibiting the list containing the names of the lawyers who had visited Manoharan at Kamunting Prison @ Malaysia’s Guantanamo Bay. Non politically motivated and independent Attorney General?
Lawyers R. Kengatharan and Gobind Singh Deo were also on record.
M. Maran reporting from Putrajaya on 10/5/10.