Ramesh, 50, however, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to him before Judge Zulhelmy Hasan.

He is accused of committing the offence on the Twitter handle ‘RameshRaoAKS****’ at the link http://twitter.com/RameshRaoAKS/status/1287974441347997697, with the intention to hurt the feelings of others.

He is alleged to have committed the offence on July 28 at 12.58pm and was noticed at No 10, Lorong 2 Taman Desa Trong Utama here at 8pm the same day.

He was charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

If convicted, he can be fined not more than RM50,000 or jailed not more than a year or both, and can be fined an additional RM1,000 for each day the posting continued to be carried on Twitter after his conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Sariza Ismail appeared for the prosecution while Ramesh was represented by Shamsher Singh Thind.

Earlier, Sariza had asked the court to set bail at RM10,000 while Shamsher urged that it be reduced to RM5,000 citing that it was a summons case and that there was no risk of his client, who is from Petaling Jaya, Selangor, absconding.

Shamser added that his client showed respect for the court by being present today even though the peninsula states are under the movement control order to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The court set bail at RM6,000 with one surety and fixed March 16 for re-mention and document submission.