MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran and two party branch leaders will appear before the Klang magistrates' court in November over their alleged involvement in a brawl in the district three years ago.

The case was mentioned before Klang magistrate Tasnim Abu Bakar today who later fixed Nov 28 for the hearing.

The Youth chief, his brother Balan who is also the Taman Wahyu, Klang branch chairperson and S Yelomalai, secretary of the Taman Berjaya branch in Shah Alam, were charged under Section 160 of the Penal Code in September last year.

Also charged over the brawl was another person known only as Segar. No other details were available.

If found guilty, the four could face a jail term not exceeding one month or a RM200 fine or both.

However, only Yelomalai and Segar appeared in court this morning. Vigneswaran was attending a meeting and his brother is in the United Kingdom.

Motive unknown

On Nov 28, 1999, Yelomalai lodged a police report claiming that Vigneswaran, Balan and Segar together with 12 others assaulted him with crash helmets outside the Kota Raja state assemblyperson Komala Ganapathy's office in Klang.

The branch secretary said he sustained injuries to his neck and also lost his gold chain during the assault.

However, the police report — a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini — did not specify the motive behind the attack.

Yelomalai's lawyer A Sivanesan questioned why the magistrates' court had taken such a long time to deal with the case.

"The case has been mentioned five times since January 2001. The magistrate said the court may not even have records on who was present during the previous sessions," said the lawyer when contacted.