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KLANG (Nov 26, 2007): About 1,000 Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) jubilant supporters cheered outside a sessions court here today when sedition charges against three Hindraf activists were dropped today.

Sessions judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris granted P. Uthayakumar, 46, his brother Warthamoorty, 41, and V. Ganabati Rao, 34, a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

Last Friday (Nov 23), the Hindraf trio claimed trial to making seditious remarks in Tamil at the Yuen He restaurant on Jalan Batang Berjuntai between 8.30pm and 11.15pm on Nov 16.

The case was re-mentioned today after their lawyers pointed out several technicalities in the charge which included the absence of transcripts of the alleged seditious remarks. Zunaidah had then ordered the prosecution to furnish the Tamil transcripts in court today.

"How are we to prepare a defence if the prosecution ambush us during the trial with a speech that we have not seen before." asked Gobin Singh Deo, one of the lawyers for the trio.

Co-counsel, G. K. Ganesan raised a possible ambiguity in the meaning of "tipu" (cheat) in the translated text. The word could mean "poi" or "ematru" in Tamil but both carried different connotations.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusuf argued the Tamil transcripts were not needed at this point.

Zunaidah, however, ruled that transcripts in the original language were necessary before they were translated into other languages.

With the original transcripts, both the prosecution and defence would have opportunities to compare them with the evidence produced using interpreters either of their own or the court’s, she said.

If the court was supplied only with a translated Bahasa Malaysia text, it could not determine whether the translation was accurate, she said.

Outside the courthouse, police stood guard over the jubilant supporters who cheered the three freed Hindraf leaders.

The impromptu rally however dispersed without incident, unlike yesterday, when police arrested 136 people after using tear gas and water canons to disperse the Hindraf rally near the British High Commission.

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