KUALA LUMPUR – A 35-year-old man facing a charge of attempting to commit unnatural sex has withdrawn his application for a judicial review to challenge the Selangor chief shariah prosecutor’s action.
Lawyer Tay Kit Hoo, representing the accused, said his client is withdrawing the said application following a decision by the Selangor shariah high court on April 19 to grant him a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
He said state assistant legal adviser Husna Abdul Halim, representing the state’s chief shariah prosecutor and state government – the first and second respondents, respectively – did not object to the application.
“The court revoked the judicial review application without an order as to costs,” he told reporters after case management, which was conducted online, before high court deputy registrar Firdaus Sidqi Sharil Azli today.
On January 16 last year, the man, who was charged with attempting unnatural sex with another man at a house in Selangor, obtained permission from the high court here to commence the judicial review proceedings.
He filed the application on November 20, 2019, seeking, among others, a declaration that Section 28 of the Shariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 is in conflict with Articles 5(1), 8 and 10 of the federal constitution, and therefore, null and void.
He also applied for a certiorari order in accordance with Order 53, Rule 8(2) of the Rules of Court 2012, for the court to revoke the decision of the Selangor chief shariah prosecutor to sue him at the shariah high court on August 21, 2019.
On February 25, the Federal Court ruled in his favour on his application seeking a declaration that Section 28 of the Shariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment is in conflict with Articles 5(1), 8 and 10 of the constitution, and therefore null and void. – Bernama, April 21, 2021
