Malaysian police questions 100 in cow's head protest case

Kuala Lumpur, Sep. 1 (ANI): Over 100 people have been questioned in Friday's 'cow's head' protest against a temple relocation proposal in Malaysian city of Shah Alam.

On Friday, nearly 50 protesters gathered at State Secretariat building's gate carrying a cow's decapitated head. They warned of further action if a temple was constructed in Section 23 of the city to facilitate greater accessibility to devotees.

The New Strait Times quoted district police chief Noor Azam Jamaludin as saying that the protestors have been identified on the basis of pictures taken during the event.

"Once police investigation is complete, we will refer the case to the deputy public prosecutor for further action," he said adding that investigation was 80 percent complete.

Azam also informed that residents had lodged a general report clarifying that the cow's head was not meant to hurt anyone's religious sentiment.

"In the report, they stressed that the cow's head only signified the stupidity of the state government and was not meant to touch the religious sensitivities of anyone," he said.

Earlier, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had expressed concern over the incident, and had asked the Inspector-General of Police, Musa Hassan, to investigate the matter.

The Section 19 temple is about 150 years old and was originally located in a plantation, but when the State Economic Development Corporation decided to develop the area into a housing estate, it left the temple there.

Initially, the temple was supposed to be relocated to an industrial area in Section 22, but was moved to Section 23 to make it more accessible for devotees.

Certain quarters had blamed the state government's lack of consultation with the people for the latest incident. (ANI)