KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Thirty-two people were charged in the Magistrate’s Court in Kuala Lumpur, Selayang and Petaling Jaya today with defying the movement control order (MCO).

In the Magistrate’s Court here, 25 people, aged between 20 and 40, were charged with the offence by being in a disease infected area with no reasonable cause.

They were caught going to several food shops in Dang Wangi and Brickfields between 8pm last April 11 and 2am the following day.

Nineteen of them, including Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indonesian nationals, pleaded guilty to the offence and were fined RM1,000 each, in default a month’s jail, by Magistrate Fardiana Haryanti Ahmad Razali.

All of them paid the fine.

However, five others pleaded not guilty to the charge and the court set June 11 for mention.

They were all charged with defying MCO by flouting Regulation 3(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020, which provides an imprisonment for up to six months, or maximum fine of RM1,000, or both, upon conviction.

In Selayang, Magistrate Nik Mohd Fadli Nik Azlan meted out the maximum fine of RM1,000 each, in default three months’ jail, on four men who were caught for failing to provide reasonable cause for their presence in an infected area at 1am last April 10.

They are Terlochen Singh ,45, Navindeep Singh Purba, 26, Karanveer Singh, 23, and Sunildip Singh Krir, 23, who were caught flouting the regulation in Jalan Desa Jaya, Bandar Country Homes, Rawang, Gombak.

Three of them also faced other charges, but they all pleaded not guilty to their respective charges and the court set May 21 for mention.

Terlochen Singh was charged under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act for insulting behaviour by hurling offensive words at a policeman at the same time, place and date, while Karanveer Singh was charged with obstructing a policeman from discharging his official duty at the same place and time.

Navindeep Singh was charged with failing to produce his personal identification document when requested by the authority at the same place, date and time.

At the Magistrate’s Court in Petaling Jaya, Magistrate Mohamad Ikhwan Mohd Nasir meted out the maximum fine of RM1,000, in default three months’ jail, on Damiri Majidah, 58, for defying the MCO.

He pleaded guilty to be in an infected area without reasonable cause at Block B, Pangsapuri Permai, Jalan PJS 1/50, at 11.15pm last March 31.

Mohamad Ikhwan Mohd Nasir also meted out the RM1,000 maximum fine on three other men — P. Sivabala, 44;  Myanmar national Kham Suan Khai, 26, and an Indonesian, Rudy, 24, for a similar offence.

They were caught in Damansara Damai, Seri Kembangan and Bandar Utama, respectively, between last March 28 and April 2. — Bernama