NILAI: "I am not ready to comment," said the father of an 11-year-old pupil whose alleged assault at the hands of his teacher over a disciplinary issue in April garnered national attention.
The father was responding to a reporter’s question on the dramatic legal developments in his son’s case on Tuesday.
The teacher, Azizan Manap, better known as ‘Cikgu Azizan,’ 44, had been charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code which deals with punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.
But on Tuesday, magistrate Mohd Zaki Abd Rahman gave Cikgu Azizan a discharge not amounting to an acquittal after deputy public prosecutor Hazeelya Muhammad revealed that the prosecution had received instructions from the Attorney-General's Chambers to withdraw the charge.
If found guilty, Azizan could have faced a year’s imprisonment, or a RM2,000 fine, or both.
When met at his house here, the pupil’s 50-year-old father said that he may issue a statement on the case on Wednesday.
"My family and I have been put under so much pressure since the case was highlighted. Maybe I will be ready to comment tomorrow," he said.
Meanwhile, Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Semarak’s Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) chairman Md Fakarudin Ab Rahman urged the public to stop criticising the parents for lodging the police report which had dragged the teacher to court.
"The student's father had proceeded with the police report after he was asked to do so by the hospital where his son was taken for treatment. He was only following procedure, until the case was brought to court… It wasn't the student's father who had sued Cikgu Azizan," he said.
Fakarudin added that the pupil and his family should be given the opportunity to continue living peacefully and put the incident behind them.