Kuching police say man suspected of tearing Quran may have mental issues

KUCHING (Jan 27): Police have arrested a 57-year-old man in connection with the tearing of the Quran here.

Torn pages of the Quran had been found from Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman to Jalan Borneo.

Kuching police chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu said the man was arrested at an eatery on Monday at around 11.30am.

“Early investigations revealed that the incident occurred on Jan 23 at around 8.40pm.

“Videos of the discovery were uploaded by a netizen on Facebook and these were confirmed by CCTV cameras within the vicinity,” he said in a statement.

Alexson said the suspect was likely influenced by his mental health condition when committing the act.

“It is believed that the suspect has a mental health problem and such the act was not done to provoke or cause tension to 3R (race, religion, royalty) issues,” he added.

The case is being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Those with information on the case can contact investigating officer Insp Logeswara Tharumalay @ Krishnan on 018-2914239 or head to the nearest police station.