THE hearing for a stay application in the inquest of deceased firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim by the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman task force has been adjourned until further notice by the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today. 

The appellate court adjourned the proceedings to allow the task force to reply to two affidavits supporting the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ stand to oppose the task force as an interested party in the inquest. 

The two affidavits were filed by Adib’s family lawyer Kamarulzaman A. Wahab and counsel Syazlin Mansor who represents the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Fire and Rescue Department as an interested party in the inquest. 

M. Visvanathan, the lawyer for the Save Seafield Mariamman Temple Task Force, said that the move by Syazlin to file an affidavit as only an interested party is an unprecedented one. 

“She is just an interested party in the case. It’s puzzling and unprecedented that an interested party is objecting to another interested party in the inquest. 

“This is an investigation – interested parties cannot decide who another interested party can be,” said Visvanathan. 

He also asked the housing and local government minister to publicly explain why her ministry is trying to stop the task force from entering the inquest. 

“The government should be accountable and explain why they gave an affidavit. Why did they file the affidavit? They owe it to the taxpayers to explain,” he said. 

“The affidavit is between us and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, why is the Housing and Local Government Ministry getting involved?”

Kamarulzaman said in his affidavit that the task force has no “locus standi” in the inquest. 

Syazlin stated that said the government did not blame the Sri Maha Mariamman temple task force for the fracas which took place outside the temple premises in November last year.

“Our intention is just to determine how Adib died. We are not implicating racial or religious sentiments,” she said. 

 A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Umi Kalthum Abdul Majib had adjourned proceedings to allow Visvanathan to file a reply to the affidavits.

The proceedings entail the motion by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to strike out the motion to stay the inquest and to throw out the appeal by the task force. 

“We’ll adjourn both motions, for a later date to be fixed, to be heard together with appeal.

“Parties, in the meantime, are allowed to file any further affidavit deemed necessary,” said Umi Kalthum.

On February 8, High Court judge Abd Karim Abd Rahman dismissed an application by the task force and devotees to take part in the inquest, saying both applicants had “no nexus” to the incident to be made interested parties.

The inquest was ordered as there were no conclusive findings in the probe into how Adib was wounded during riots at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang Jaya on November 27 and 28 last year.

Police investigations revealed there were two possibilities as to what caused the 24-year-old’s death: either he was beaten by a mob or run over by a fire truck.

Following the incident, Adib had been hospitalised for three weeks and, despite regaining consciousness and showing signs of recovery, died on December 17 of lung failure.

The inquest continues on March 19. – March 4, 2019.