A lawyer acting for Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah in a defamation suit filed against Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos, is puzzled over a sudden change of judge, without any reasons given.

Melissa Sasidaran said today was supposed to be fixed for case management before a deputy registrar under Justice S Nantha Balan.

“When the defamation suit was filed, in the sealed copy, the court informed us that it would be at Justice Nantha Balan's court.

“However, a few days ago we received a letter from another deputy registrar informing that the case is now before Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab. This is following the instructions of Federal Court judge Justice Azahar Mohamed, who is the managing civil court judge for the KL High Court.”

The lawyer said no reasons were given for the sudden change and this had left her puzzled.

Instead of today's case management, Melissa said the matter had now been re-scheduled to Tuesday before another deputy registrar who is under Justice Zaki.

Maria had filed the suit against Jamal on Oct 7, following his claims that the electoral watchdog had been infiltrated by the Islamic State (IS).

She is seeking general and aggravated damages for Jamal's remarks made at a press conference.

Jamal, who also leads the red-shirts, also lodged a police report claiming Bersih wanted to surround Putrajaya.