diff --git a/jdk/src/java.desktop/windows/native/libawt/windows/awt_Component.cpp b/jdk/src/java.desktop/windows/native/libawt/windows/awt_Component.cpp
index 6988fb9703a..91bcef69383 100644
--- a/jdk/src/java.desktop/windows/native/libawt/windows/awt_Component.cpp
+++ b/jdk/src/java.desktop/windows/native/libawt/windows/awt_Component.cpp
@@ -3936,7 +3936,6 @@ void AwtComponent::SendInputMethodEvent(jint id, jstring text,
         DASSERT(stringCls);
         CHECK_NULL(stringCls);
         clauseReading = env->NewObjectArray(cClause, stringCls, NULL);
-        env->DeleteLocalRef(stringCls);
         DASSERT(clauseReading);
         CHECK_NULL(clauseReading);
         for (int i=0; i<cClause; i++)   env->SetObjectArrayElement(clauseReading, i, rgClauseReading[i]);