Tay Kit Hoo, representing the accused, said today that his client was withdrawing the application following a decision by the Selangor Syariah High Court on April 19 in giving him a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on the charge.

He said Selangor assistant legal adviser Husna Abdul Halim, representing the state chief sharie prosecutor and the state government, who were the first and second respondents, did not object to the application.

“The court revoked the judicial review application without an order on costs,” he said when contacted by reporters after the case management, which was conducted online before High Court deputy registrar Firdaus Sidqi Sharil Azli today.

On Jan 16 last year, the man, who had been charged with attempting to have unnatural sex with another man at a house in Selangor, had obtained permission from the High Court here to commence judicial review proceedings.

He filed the application on Nov 20, 2019, seeking among others a declaration that Section 28 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 was in conflict with Articles 5 (1), 8 and 10 of the Federal Constitution and therefore null and void.

He also applied for a certiorari order for the court to revoke the decision of the Selangor chief shariah prosecutor in suing him in the Selangor Syariah High Court on Aug 21, 2019.

On Feb 25, the Federal Court ruled in his favour on his application seeking a declaration that Section 28 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 was in conflict with Articles 5 (1), 8 and 10 of the Federal Constitution and was therefore null and void.