Married couple withdraws lawsuit against Jawi

KUALA LUMPUR: A married couple today withdrew their lawsuit against the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) and six others in connection with their wrongful arrest by the department for alleged close proximity.
Mohd Ridhuan Giman, 35, told the High Court that he and his wife, Siti Sarah Maulad Abdullah, 27, voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit due to financial constraints and were not interested in continuing the action.
"I'm having financial problems as I only work part-time and with no fixed income. I also have three pending case at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court and want to focus on them," he said.
Judge Datuk Nordin Hassan the dismissed the suit and ordered the couple to pay cost of RM3,000 to the seven defendants.
Besides Jawi and its officers, the couple also named the Prime Minister's Department and the Malaysian government as defendants.
Earlier, lawyer Adam Luqman told the court that he was withdrawing himself from representing the couple.
Senior federal counsel Kamal Azira Hassan, who represented all the defendants, asked the court to request for an apology from the couple, as well as costs of RM10,000 .
In the suit filed on Feb 17, 2017, the couple who claimed that they were married on Oct 17, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, said they were wrongfully detained by Jawi enforcement officers at a hotel near here.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs said their arrest at 1.30am on Jan 8, 2017, at the hotel, was unlawful and in violation of the Federal Constitution as well as the Syariah Criminal Procedure (Federal Territories) Act 1997.
In the defence statement filed on April 3 last year, the defendants claimed that Mohd Ridhuan had provoked the Jawi enforcement team by raising his voice and questioning their authority to conduct the inspection.
The defendants also claimed no violence or assault and battery was used towards the plaintiffs during the inspection. — Bernama