Man charged with insulting Hinduism on FB changes plea to not guilty

KUALA LUMPUR: The 52-year-old man who initially pleaded guilty to two counts of insulting Hinduism on his Facebook account has changed his plea.

Zamri Abdul Razak, who was previously unrepresented, came to the Sessions Court here today with lawyer Mohd Harris Abdullah, who told Judge Zamri Bakar that he was appointed as counsel Sunday (March 17) night.

“My client wants to retract his guilty plea,” he said.

Last week, the accused was charged with two counts of insulting Hinduism on his Facebook account using the profile ‘Zambri Bin Abd Razak', which were read by Facebook account user ‘Saravana Kumar' at the Cyber Crime and Multimedia Investigation Division Office of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Bukit Aman Police headquarters, at the 27th floor of Menara KJP in Wangsa Maju, here at 12.45pm on March 10.

The court had initially fixed today for sentencing.

DPP Muhamad Asyraf Md Kamal said the prosecution was not informed of the accused's intention to change his plea.

“We also did not know about the lawyer's appointment.Yes, it is his right to change his plea but he should have informed us out of respect,” he said.

Mohd Harris expressed his regret over the matter and apologised to the court.

Judge Zamri said the accused should have informed the prosecution earlier before the proceeding started.

He then fixed April 1 for mention.

The accused was charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, also punishable under Section 233(3) of the same act, that provides for a maximum fine of RM50,000 or up to one year's jail, or both, upon conviction and a fine of RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction.

The former photographer of a production company is currently out on RM15,000 bail.