Shah Alam High Court today ruled that the discharge order made for the three Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders from a sedition charge was done in error.

Judicial commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim told the packed courtroom that the Klang Sessions Court judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris had erred in law when she discharged P Uthayakumar, P Waythamoorthy and V Ganabatirau two weeks ago.

On Nov 23, the three were charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act over alleged seditious remarks made during a speech at a restaurant in Batang Berjuntai on Nov 16.

However, Sessions judge Zunaidah on Nov 26 had ruled that the charge was defective as the original speech in Tamil was not attached to the charge sheet and granted the discharge to the trio.

According to the charge sheet, the three were accused of making seditious remarks in Tamil but only the Bahasa Malaysia transcript was annexed to the document.

The prosecution, led by head of prosecution in the Attorney General's Chambers Yusof Zainal Abiden, subsequently filed for a revision order of the ruling.

Abang Iskandar in his oral judgment today said the purpose of a charge sheet was not to function as the procurement of evidence.

"The session judge has erred when she ordered the prosecution to attach the Tamil transcript into the charge sheet as it is essentially not a requirement in law to do so.

"Her numerous orders for the transcripts cannot be sustained and she has misdirected herself by asking for evidence to be attached to the charge sheet," he said.

Gag order rejected

He ruled that the trio is to be produced in the Klang Sessions Court on a date to be set later.

The judicial commissioner also decided that the High Court has revisionary powers over a discharge not amounting to an acquittal granted in a lower court as long as it is in 'the pursuit of justice'.

Abang Iskandar also rejected a gag order application to stop the public from commenting on the case made by the trio's lawyer A Srimurugan. The judge said that it was "unnecessary".

Srimurugan had earlier applied for the gag order on the grounds that media reports and public comments would prejudice his clients.

He added that recent comments by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail linking his clients to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka as an example.

Srimurugan argued such comments may tantamount to subjudice and prejudice the fair trial of the three Hindraf lawyers.

Stay application

Srimurugan also requested for an interim stay of proceedings pending his appeal to the Court of Appeal to set aside Abang Iskandar's ruling. The stay application will be heard on Wednesday.

With the discharge order set aside, the sedition charge and bail order still stands for Uthayakumar, Waythamoorthy and Ganabatirau. They have been released on a RM800 bail each.

Waythamoorthy ( photo, centre ) had refused the bail offer and chose to remain in remand as a mark of protest.

Other lawyers representing the trio were M Manoharan, A Sivanesan and R Genghadran.