Yup, following the hints given by Home Minister Syed Hamid, the police have started to call people in for questioning. But its not under the Societies Act. 4 people from HINDRAF and another 3 from the “Free RPK” group have been summoned. Surind Raj wrote about it in his blog. Another visitor, Haris Ibrahim have not updated his blog yet at the time of this posting.
Malaysiakini reports that 4 HINDRAF people were summoned – K Shanti, wife of Hindraf leader-in-exile P Waythamoorthy, Hindraf information chief S Jayathas, Selangor coordinator K Tamilselvam and national events coordinator R Kannan. Hmm…looks like they missed the small girl! The four of them have received a written notice under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code to report to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters on Tuesday to give their statements. According to the notice signed by ASP Sydney Clyde Jeremiah, they are being investigated for illegal assembly under Section 27 (5) of the Police Act, as well as trespass under Section 447 pf the Penal Code.
I’m not a legal expert, but illegal assembly? That’s going to be hard to stick with. Trespassing – possible if those people were found to have entered areas prohibited to the public or not part of the open house celebrations. However, Hindraf legal advisor Surendran (i suspect he will be arrested soon as well…for one thing or another) says:
Hindraf legal advisor N Surendran described the action against the activists as a form of harassment against the movement’s supporters.
“It was an open event. It is absurd to call it an illegal gathering and (to call it) trespassing is even more ridiculous. The authorities have really scraped the bottom of the barrel this time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Free RPK group members were also not spared:
Blogger and commercial banker P Surind Raj told Malaysiakini that he and two others – lawyers Haris Ibrahim and Amarjit Sidhu – will have to report to ASP Sydney tomorrow afternoon.
However, there was no information as to which provisions of law they are deemed to have breached.
When contacted, Haris said that he has been summoned to give a statement but the police did not inform him if he was being investigated. “I will not presume that I am being investigated,” he said, adding that he would be at the Dang Wangi police station at 2.30pm tomorrow.