KUALA LUMPUR: Counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo will scrutinise the contents of the affidavit-in-reply from the Chief Justice whether the originating summons filed by the latter would be deemed academic due to the announcement by the government on the formation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) regarding the allegation of malpractice by the Judiciary.
Sangeet, daughter of the late Karpal Singh, filed the originating summons on the Chief Justice regarding the alleged open intervention by the Judiciary in the decision on the Sedition Act case by the lawyer (Karpal) and the case on the change of religion by three children who were Hindus.
She disclosed this when asked by the media on the formation of the RCI to investigate the allegation of malpractice by the Judiciary regarding whether it would have an impact on her summons case.
She said that the RCI and the originating summons filed by her were two differing matters and personally she felt it would not have an impact on her summons case.
“At the case management to be held on March 13, we will inform the court on the legal position concerning the latest developments on the formation of the RCI,”she told reporters after the proceedings in the chambers of High Court Judge Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril, here yesterday which was also attended by Senior Federal Counsel S. Narkunavathy representing the respondent, namely the Chief Justice.
Earlier at the proceedings in chambers which was held in open court, the judge rebuked and advised those involved in the case against distributing documents which had yet to be handed over to the applicant or respondents and the court.
The issue cropped up following the affidavit of support pledged by Court of Apeal Judge Datuk Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer in the originating summons filed by Sangeet which went viral on the social media.
Sangeet who was not aware how the document could have been spread, said that she only received instructions to file the affidavit-in-reply today.
As such, the judge advised the parties concerned to follow normal procedure which had been specified by the court in the submission of the documents to prevent a repeat of the incident.
On Jan 14, Sangeet filed an originating summons to seek a declaration order that the Chief Justice had failed in carrying out his duty as Head of the Malaysian Judiciary to defend the integrity and authority of the judiciary to finalise the internal investigation on the decision of the appeal involving the late Karpal’s sedition case as well as the case of the kindergarten teacher, M Indira Gandhi.
Sangeet claimed that the issue cropped up when counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla issued a statement that the result of the appeal in the Sedition Act case of the late Karpal had been amended due to a judicial intervention by a senior judge and the matter was reported by a news portal, Free Malaysia Today on Aug 22, 2018.
The counsel also claimed there was judicial intervention in the case of Indira Gandhi and the matter was announced openly by Appeals Court Judge Datuk Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer in his speech at the International Law Conference on August 18, 2018. – Bernama
