UMPSA student K. Vikneswaran pleads not guilty to Quran desecration and offensive social media post
PETALING JAYA: A 21-year-old university student appeared before the Kuantan Sessions Court on Tuesday and denied charges of defiling a copy of the Al-Quran after a video purportedly showing him stepping on the holy book was circulated on social media.
K. Vikneswaran, a student at Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA), entered his not guilty plea after the charges were read out before Judge Harmi Thamri Mohamad.
He faces two separate charges. The first is under Section 295 of the Penal Code (Act 574), which relates to the desecration of an object held sacred by a religious community — in this case, the Al-Quran — an act allegedly carried out with full knowledge that it would constitute an insult to Islam.
The second charge is under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), which concerns the deliberate transmission of content deemed grossly offensive in nature via the Threads application, with the alleged intent to cause hurt to others.
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If convicted under Section 295 of the Penal Code, the accused faces a jail term of up to two years, a fine, or both. A conviction under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 carries a maximum fine of RM500,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.
Vikneswaran, dressed in a red shirt and trousers, arrived at the Kuantan Court Complex at around 9am under tight security, escorted by several police personnel. His remand period concluded on the day of the hearing. His appearance drew considerable attention from members of the public present at the court complex.
He was first arrested on February 25.
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