TEACHER Azizan Manap, who was to go on trial for allegedly hurting a standard five pupil, was given a discharge not amounting to acquittal by the Seremban magistrate’s court today.

The case, under Section 323 of the Penal Code for causing hurt, was also withdrawn.

The case of the senior assistant in charge of pupil affairs at a primary school in Nilai drew 300 teachers to the courthouse this morning in a show of solidarity.

Their presence made it one of the rare occasions teachers, who are government employees, have protested in support of a colleague whom they say was only carrying out his duties to discipline a pupil.

Azizan, who recently began work at SK Taman Semarak and was put in charge of discipline, had been dealing with the pupil reportedly caught for sniffing glue, fighting and bullying.

Magistrate Mohd Zaki Abd Rahman, in announcing that Azizan was given a discharge not amounting to acquittal, ordered the court to return a RM500 bail to the accused.

In an immediate reaction, Azizan told reporters he had forgiven the pupil’s family who brought the charges against him.

“I’ve forgiven my pupil and the family. I pray that they are well,” he said outside the courtroom.

Azizan’s lawyer, Francis Pereira, said the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) could recharge a person who had been discharged not amounting to acquittal.

“That’s usually done with cases where they’re not ready to proceed with the trial.

“But in this situation, the AGC told the magistrate that based on new development, they are discharging not amounting to acquittal,” he told lawyers outside the court.

Pereira said the AGC did not give a reason as to why the case was withdrawn, and was not required to do so.

“This case is no more. It’s unlikely that they would revisit it and recharge the teacher.”

The case was withdrawn before any evidence was taken.

According to the charge sheet, Azizan was accused of slapping the pupil on the left cheek about 7am on April 6.

The incident was said to have taken place at the assembly point of SK Taman Semarak.

If he had been found guilty, Azizan faced a one-year jail term, a RM2,000 fine or both.

The case took social media by storm, with the #PrayforCikguAzizan hashtag trending as many Malaysians expressed support for the teacher.

Teachers also demanded that a parental code of ethics be put in place for when they took action against problematic students. – December 19, 2017.