Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh also said the Umno president should be charged with contempt of court for saying the woman had been acquitted as if there was no evidence involved.

Zahid, who made the comments at a ceramah last night, was also reported as saying that the government had practised double standards in the matter.

However, Ramkarpal said Zahid’s claim implied that Putrajaya had had a hand in the decision and that the magistrate in question was not impartial.

He said Zahid’s statement undermined public confidence in the judiciary and “ridicules, scandalises and offends the dignity, integrity and impartiality of the court”.

“This is a serious allegation and goes beyond fair criticism of the decision of the said magistrate as such criticism can cause the public to feel that she was biased and had taken into consideration matters which ought not to have been (taken) when deciding the matter,” he said in a statement.

He said lawyer Arunachalam Kasi, better known as Arun Kasi, had been sentenced to jail and fined by the Federal Court in April for unfairly criticising its decision.

Arun Kasi was jailed for 30 days and slapped with a RM40,000 fine.

“If Arun Kasi was cited for contempt, there is no reason why Zahid should not be,” Ramkarpal said, adding that Zahid’s statement was equally, if not more serious.

He also urged the attorney-general or Magistrate’s Court to initiate contempt proceedings against Zahid.

Otherwise, he said, “such reckless statements and comments may become a norm, something which must be avoided”.

Last month, the Magistrate’s Court in Johor Bahru acquitted and discharged sales promoter Sam Ke Ting who had been charged with reckless driving causing a road accident in 2017 which saw eight teenage cyclists killed.

Sam, 24, was acquitted without defence being called as the magistrate said the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case.