Kelantan mufti chides mob that beat, stripped 15-year-old boy for allegedly trying to steal bike

KOTA BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The mufti of Malaysia's state of Kelantan chided mosque goers who beat and stripped naked a 15-year-old boy for allegedly attempting to steal a motorcycle at Masjid Pau Lima in Binjai on Tuesday.

Datuk Muhamad Shukri Muhamad said on Thursday that those who had stripped the boy went against Islamic teachings of not disgracing a person although he had committed an offence.

"Two wrongs do not make one right and the mosque goers had taken the law into their hands by beating and disgracing the boy, and such acts is not what Islam propagates its followers to do.

"As a Muslim we must uphold noble Islamic principals and it shows through our actions, although the boy had committed a crime those who apprehended him is also committing a crime by stripping him nude," said Mr Muhamad Shukri.

He was asked to comment on the mob who beat and stripped a Form Three student at a mosque after he was caught trying to steal a motorcycle at 8.15pm.

Apart from being beaten, the mob also forced him to sit naked on a motorcycle for everyone to see.

"They... and tarnished the mosque's sanctity.

"It is not wrong to teach the boy a lesson but one's action must be based on Islamic principles and not driven by anger and revenge, and now the boy's naked pictures is seen by everyone in Malaysia.

"I urge those who are distributing the pictures in the internet to delete it as it is sinful for doing so," he said.

Kota Baru police chief Rohaimi Mat Isa confirmed the incident, and said that the police have not been successful in locating the people who apprehended and stripped the boy naked.

The boy received medical treatment for cuts and bruises on his head and body at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II hospital, and has since been remanded.

Pictures of him nude on the motorcycle have gone viral and aroused the anger of netizens against the mob that injured the boy in the head, body, torso and legs before handing him to the police.

A netizen calling himself "Ustaz" said the imam of the mosque should realise that Islam forbade Muslims from disgracing anyone.

The imam should have stopped the mob from disgracing the suspect and ... prevented such wild justice from happening,¡± he wrote.

"Horrors" said the posting of the nude pictures on the Internet was uncalled for even though the boy had committed an offence.

"Turbanite" said it was wrong to take the law into one's own hands.

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