SHAH ALAM – Umno Youth Chief Datuk Dr Muhammad Akmal Saleh has called on the police to clarify the perceived discrepancy in the treatment of two individuals brought to court, specifically regarding the use of handcuffs.
He raised concerns over whether separate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were applied, noting that one accused individual was handcuffed while the other was not.
“One was handcuffed while the other was not. Can the police explain why this happened? Is there a different SOP because Arun Dorasamy was accompanied by a Deputy Minister compared to Zamri Vinoth? We seek an explanation,” he stated in a Facebook post.
Akmal also questioned the broader issue of fairness and transparency in enforcement, citing a separate incident involving an inverted national flag.
“The same applies to the upside-down flag case, where the individual charged is the one who defended the flag, while the person who deliberately inverted it remains free. What kind of justice is this?” he added.
The issue surfaced after independent preacher Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu was brought to the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex in handcuffs and under tight police escort.
In contrast, activist Arun Dorasamy appeared at the Jawi Magistrate’s Court in Penang without handcuffs.
He was accompanied by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), M. Kulasegaran.
Both men were charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and pleaded not guilty.