00:00A case that sparked controversy on social media has taken an unexpected turn.
00:08A senior citizen, accused of slapping a 21-year-old man for eating in public during Ramadan, has
00:15been given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, D.N.A.A.
00:20Sixty-five-year-old Abdul Razak Ismail had earlier pleaded guilty at the Johor Bahru Magistrates
00:26Court to the charge under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt.
00:32However, his plea was rejected after he disputed key facts of the case.
00:38While Abdul Razak admitted to slapping the young man at a convenience store at 3.45 p.m.
00:45on March 16, he disagreed with claims that the slaps were forceful enough to cause bruising
00:50on the victim's cheeks.
00:53This led Magistrate A. Sharmini to reject his guilty plea despite his attempt to retract
00:59his words, saying that he did not want to trouble his son.
01:03Sharmini said the court does not accept a conditional guilty plea and set the next case
01:08mention.
01:10However, when the court was in the midst of setting bail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Noor
01:16Fatiha Mohammed Nizam said she had received instructions for the case to be D.N.A.A. and
01:22to be referred to the Attorney General's Chambers.
01:24The Magistrate then granted the D.N.A.A. pending the fresh charge against Abdul Razak.
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