An application by three Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders to seek a stay of a High Court order which reinstated a sedition charge against them did not materialise today after lawyers for the trio discharged themselves from the case.

The lawyers for P Uthayakumar, P Waythamoorthy and V Ganabatirau ( photo) told the Shah Alam High Court judicial commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim that they could not proceed with the matter since their lead client Uthayakumar was not in the court.

Hindraf’s legal adviser Uthayakumar has been in police remand since yesterday and is expected to be charged with another count of sedition today.

Lawyers M Manoharan, A Srimurugan, A Sivanesan and Teng Chang Khim told the court this morning that they had specific instructions from Uthayakumar to proceed with the matter only if he was present.

Since his whereabouts were unknown, the lawyers told the court that they would discharge themselves from acting in the matter.

Head of prosecution in the Attorney General's Chambers Yusof Zainal Abiden submitted that since no stay application was made this morning, there was no need for the court to make any ruling on that matter.

JC Abang Iskandar agreed and said that his ruling on Monday to reinstate the sedition charge against the trio stood.

Back to Klang court soon

Uthayakumar, Hindraf chairperson Waythamoorthy and Ganabatirau had sought the stay pending their appeal to the Court of Appeal.

On Monday Abang Iskandar ruled that the Klang Sessions Court judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris had erred in law when she discharged the trio 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 subsequently filed for a revision order of the ruling.

With this latest development, the three Hindraf leaders are now expected to be produced at the Klang Sessions Court soon to proceed with the sedition charge. At the moment, they are out on a RM800 bail each.

Yesterday Uthayakumar was charged with another sedition charge in Kuala Lumpur over a letter which he had written to the British prime minister. The case will be heard from Jan 7 to 11 next year.

Uthayakumar was rearrested minutes after posting a RM50,000 bail for this matter and is now expected to be charged with another sedition charge today.