By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : Jailed Hindu activist K. Vasantha Kumar has been allowed to attend the funeral of his uncle, media reports said Friday.
A tearful Kumar of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) paid his last respects to V. Sekanthan, 58, who died of pneumonia in a hospital in Butterworth, Penang state.
Kumar was brought handcuffed from the detention centre. Guards removed the handcuffs so that he could put flowers on the coffin.
The jailed man also hugged his mother, R. Manomhony, 60, and met his wife K. Vickneswary before being escorted back.
“I would like to thank the authorities for allowing him to come,” the mother was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper.
Kumar is in prison with fellow Hindraf leaders P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau and R. Kenghadaran.
The five are serving two-year jail terms under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for organising a protest rally in November to highlight the alleged discrimination of the Tamil minority in Malaysia.