Zaid says 10-year jail term for stealing food is senseless

The former Law Minister also says there is a huge disconnect between the elite and the common folk.

PETALING JAYA: Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, appalled at reading about the 10-year prison term handed down to a 22-year-old for stealing food, said he agreed with Hindraf Chairman P Waytha Moorthy that the punishment was excessive.

In a series of tweets today, Zaid said, “To jail a young offender for stealing food items just don’t make sense, what more for 10 long years.”

Hindraf has offered to be the voice demanding justice for Shashikumar who died in prison under suspicious circumstances, allegedly by committing suicide by hanging, while serving his sentence.

However disparities in the post-mortem report as to the time of his death as well as the presence of bruises all over his body that could not be explained, has pushed the circumstance of the boy’s death as well as his harsh prison sentence into the limelight.

Supporting Waytha’s proposal that judges consider the four crucial elements of “deterrence, rehabilitation, prevention and retribution” when meting out sentences, Zaid said, “I totally agree with Waytha. Our judges must be trained properly so they understand human conditions better.”

Zaid also echoed Waytha’s condemnation of judges who “sit in their ivory tower and push paper” when he tweeted, “Looks like there is a huge disconnect between the elites and the common people in the country.”