Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) adviser N Surendran accused the police of abusing their power for investigating a news anchor who wrote a letter alleging a patrol officer had behaved rudely.
He urged the police to drop the investigation, citing public bodies are prone to criticism, and instead of punishing critics, such matters should be dealt with appropriately.
"Investigation against the news anchor is a wrongful use of police powers and has no legal basis.
"Since when is it a criminal offence for the public to criticise any action or conduct of the police? I’m surprised that the Subang Jaya police have taken this course of action," he told Malaysiakini.
The news anchor, Muhammed Ahmad Hamdan is being probed under Section 504 of the Penal Code for intentional insult, a crime that can be punished with up to two years in jail.
Surendran said the investigation sets a bad precedent as it would deter the public from lodging complaints over any police misconduct.
"What the police ought to have done is to inquire into the complaint or criticism made by the news anchor. If the police feel that the criticism is unjustified, they can respond and explain their position.
"But what they must not do is to investigate the person who made the complaint. A public body must accept public criticism even if it is in harsh terms," he added.
Two days ago, in the letter published in the New Straits Times, Muhammed wrote about an incident that occurred just outside of his house in Subang Jaya.
He had arrived home at about 1am after presenting the Tuesday midnight news and was unwinding in his car - parked in front of his house - when two officers on motorcycles approached him.
Despite complying with the officers’ request to furnish them with his MyKad, things got heated when one of the officers asked Muhammed to step out of his car and refused to explain why.
“One of them exhibited rude, arrogant and unprofessional behaviour, which left me disappointed,” he wrote.
Muhammed did not reveal the identity or give any identifying descriptions of both officers.
In response to Muhammed's allegation, the officer lodged a police report against Muhammed.
Subang Jaya district police chief Wan Azlan Wan Mamat said the officer involved found the article to be untrue and damaging to the image of the police in the district and in general, Bernama reported. - Mkini
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