KUALA LUMPUR: Charges pressed in court can always be amended according to findings from an inquest, the Dewan Rakyat has been told.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said an inquest would also stop once perpetrators are identified and affirmative evidence is discovered.
"Then, the charges can be amended. This is something normal.
"For example, someone is charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code but maybe it can be amended to Section 304.
"For now, this is the decision of the Attorney General's Chambers," he said in his winding up speech in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Aug 20).
He was responding to a question by Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudeen (PN-Alor Setar) who asked about the case where five teenagers were charged with bullying 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir.
The Opposition MP had asked if heavier charges could be pressed if there were new findings from the inquest.
Earlier on Wednesday, the five teenagers pleaded not guilty after being charged in the Kota Kinabalu Children's Court under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 35 of the same Code, for using abusive words against the victim.
If convicted, they face up to one year's imprisonment, a fine or both.
Separately, Saifuddin Nasution said it was not fair to claim that the police did not do their jobs in Zara Qairina's case.
"Do not perceive this as a cover-up. When I look at the chronology of the investigation and how complete the statements were, I feel sad that only because of one aspect, the police is said to have failed," he said.
The police drew flak after not conducting a post-mortem on Zara Qairina.
The 13-year-old was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory in Papar on July 16 and died the following day at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Her body was later exhumed and a post-mortem examination carried out.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Comm Datuk M. Kumar later said that not conducting a post-mortem was against protocol and that an internal investigation would be conducted on the investigation officer and supervisor.
