AGC: No charges against preacher who allegedly insults Hinduism

No charges will be pressed against preacher Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu (photo, above) who allegedly insulted Hinduism, according to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

Online portal The Malaysian Insight reported that in a letter to Hindu Agamam Ani Malaysia Association signed by solicitor-general Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, the AGC had stated it would not pursue the matter further.

The letter dated July 5 was handed over to the group's advisor Arun Dorasamy yesterday.

The Malaysian Insight quoted AGC public relations officer Wasri Ahmad Sujani who also said a copy of the letter dated July 5 was posted to the society’s office address.

"Upon considering the complete investigation paper, that is the result the prosecution asked me to deliver.

"All the (other) details, I don’t have access to that information," he was quoted as saying.

The Hindu Agamam Ani presented a second memorandum to the AGC last week and demanded actions to be taken against Zamri, a student of controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Their call for AGC to press charges against Zamri was made due to his speech at a mosque in Kelantan last December, where he allegedly belittled Hinduism.

"How would I tell the thousands of complainants about this decision? Tell them that there were no insults and the AGC is not in the position of charging him?

"The 1min 37sec video openly derogated Hinduism. This was the reason that many people went to the police station. So, isn’t that enough to charge Zamri Vinoth?" said Hindu Agamam Ani advisor Arun Dorasamy as quoted by The Malaysian Insight.

He also claimed that such matters would have been "handled differently" by the AGC if the insult was made against Islam or the Malays.

On July 5, the group handed its first memorandum to the AGC, about three months after Zamri was arrested in Perlis over reports lodged against his sermon that was deemed "blasphemous" to Hinduism.

He was investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code for causing disharmony on grounds of religion and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for misuse of network services.