KUALA LUMPUR: A gardener and a customer service personnel were charged separately today in the sessions court with insulting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Facebook.
Sharil Mohd Sarif, 36, and T. R. Thurkai Devi, 32, pleaded not guilty before judge Shamsudin Abdullah.
Sharil was accused of using the Facebook profile “Shahril Chain” to initiate transmission of communication which was offensive in character with intent to annoy another person.
The posting was read at the Cyber Crime and Multimedia Investigation Division, Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Bukit Aman Police headquarters, 27th floor, Menara KPJ, Wangsa Maju here at 11.30am on March 13.
Thurkai Devi was accused of using the Facebook profile “Thurkai Devi Tangga Raja”, to initiating the transmission of communication which was offensive in character with intent to annoy another person.
The posting was read at the office of Legal Division (D5), Criminal Investigation Department, 14th Floor, Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters, Dang Wangi here at 11.17am on June 4, 2018.
The charge, under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, punishable under Section 233 (3) of the same act, provides for a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment for up to a year, or both, upon conviction and a fine of RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction.
The prosecution, conducted by deputy public prosecutors Muhamad Asyraf Md Kamal and Mohd Sophian Zakaria, did not offer bail as the offence was serious and considering that many cases of insults against the royal institution, Yang di-Pertuan Agong and religion had occurred of late.
Sharil and Thurkai Devi, who were represented by lawyer M. Dinesh, appealed to be given bail, saying that they had given full cooperation during the police investigation.
Judge Shamsudin allowed bail at RM5,000 with one surety for each of the accused and set April 8 for re-mention. — Bernama
