Police have confirmed initiating investigations against Morib assemblyperson Hasnul Baharuddin based on a report lodged by a woman identified as his ex-wife, Juliani Jalilah Abdullah, over an alleged assault.
Malaysiakini sighted a portion of the report lodged at Kuala Langat district police station sometime last month, over an incident that allegedly took place on Aug 21, while the couple was still married.
When contacted, Kuala Langat district police chief Ahmad Ridhwan Mohd Nor confirmed receiving the report and initiating investigations.
“I confirm we received the report. Investigations are ongoing based on the report. On the contents of the report, I will not say anything,” Ridhwan told Malaysiakini yesterday.
Hasnul, who is also Selangor assembly deputy speaker, claimed the report was lodged with “ill intentions” after their divorce and the alleged incident “never happened”.
“The report has ill intentions. It was not lodged immediately after the incident, but only after I divorced her, so that shows ill intentions.
“Police have carried out their investigations. In short, if I am guilty, the police would have taken swift actions,” he told Malaysiakini.
Juliani, 38, in her report, alleged that Hasnul had at around 11pm on Aug 21 assaulted her at their home in Banting, causing facial injuries.
She stated that the report made several months after the incident was lodged to be submitted for reference of the Syariah Court and further actions against Hasnul.
When contacted, Juliani said she did not immediately lodge a report as Hasnul had purportedly talked her out of doing so.
“The incident happened on Aug 21. I was assaulted after my husband had requested to take on a second wife.
“I tried to talk him out of the idea (marrying a second wife) but I was completely ignored. I was crying uncontrollably, and he lunged at me, slapping my face several times until my lips split and bled,” she said.
The 38-year-old said she had a photograph of her face taken immediately after the incident which was also submitted to the Kuala Langat lower Syariah Court which had, on Thursday, validated Hasnul’s divorce pronouncement made out of court via WhatsApp on Oct 14.
Hasnul further confirmed he had his statement recorded over Juliani’s report and so far, there has been no further developments.
Meanwhile, Hasnul admits the divorce pronouncement was made via WhatsApp.
Juliani said Hasnul had admitted before the court that he had on Oct 14 via a WhatsApp message stated his intention to divorce her with “talaq tiga” or the highest degree of divorce under syariah law.
A Muslim man is permitted under Islamic law to divorce his wife on either one, two or three talaq pronouncements – each stage with the chance to reconcile – or all three at once, indicating no further reconciliation.
Juliani said she married Hasnul as his third wife eight years ago, but the Selangor state assembly deputy speaker had divorced his previous two wives – purportedly at their requests – about a month into her marriage.
However, several months before their divorce, Juliani said Hasnul had requested permission to remarry his former second wife whose new husband had passed away last December.
“Initially, I wasn’t 100 percent against it so long as he promises to be fair.
“But after thinking about it over several days, I could no longer accept it and tried to talk him out of remarrying her,” said Juliani, indicating it was the start of their troubles.
Contacted for comment, Hasnul said, “This is a personal matter…
“Who I want to marry, that is my right, but I would like to say this problem in our marriage has lasted many years,” he told Malaysiakini.