COURT OF APPEALS DELAYS DECISION ON GOVERNMENT'S APPEAL AGAINST
EX-ACTIVISTS
21/06/2023 07:15 PM
PUTRAJAYA, June 21 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal has postponed its decision on an appeal by the police and the government to overturn the High Court's decision which declared the detention of former anti-crime activist R. Sri Sanjeevan for 16 days under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (POCA) as unlawful.
A three-judge panel comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk S. Nantha Balan, Datuk See Mee Chun and Datuk Azimah Omar heard the appeal online today.
Justice Nantha Balan, who headed the panel, said they needed time to examine the issues raised in the appeal as they were important.
He told Senior Federal Counsel Norfauzani Mohd Nordin who represented investigating officer ASP Poonnam E. Keling, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Malaysian government and lawyer S. Preakas who represented Sri Sanjeevan that the court registrar would inform them of the date of the decision.
The police and the government appealed against the High Court's decision on June 28 last year which allowed Sri Sanjeevan's civil suit for wrongful imprisonment and ordered general, exemplary and punitive damages to be paid to him.
High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Bache also ruled that Sri Sanjeevan's detention was illegal and that his rights under Article 5 (1) of the Federal Constitution had been violated by Poonnam.
He ordered that the damages be assessed in a separate hearing set later.
The High Court judge found Poonnam responsible for wrongfully detaining Sri Sanjeevan and that the Inspector General and the government were vicariously responsible for Poonnam's actions.
Sri Sanjeevan, 38, the former chairman of the Malaysian Crime Watch (MyWatch), sued the police and the government alleging that he was wrongfully detained by Poonnam for 16 days between July 10, 2016 and July 26, 2016, in addition to being assaulted. He is seeking compensation for the injuries he suffered.
In today's appeal proceedings, Norfauzani argued that the High Court judge erred when he ruled that Sri Sanjeevan had been wrongfully detained by relying on another High Court decision that allowed Sri Sanjeevan's habeas corpus application and released him from custody.
He argued that the judge erred in relying on the habeas corpus decision without making his own findings of fact as to what caused Sri Sanjeevan to be wrongfully detained.
Preakas, however, in his counterargument said the High Court judge was right in ruling that his client's 16-day detention was illegal because there was no evidence that Sri Sanjeevan was involved in organized violence that justified his detention.
He said Poonnam, in his testimony during cross-examination, confirmed that the case involving Sri Sanjeevan was not related to organized terrorism.
Sri Sanjeevan was arrested for alleged involvement in criminal activity on July 10, 2016 under POCA and produced before a magistrate the following day, who issued a 21-day remand order.
Before the end of the 21-day remand period, Sri Sanjeevan filed a habeas corpus application to secure his release from custody.
He was released after the High Court allowed his application on July 26, 2016 for violating mandatory procedures under POCA.
The government then filed an appeal to the Federal Court but later withdrew the appeal.
Sri Sanjeevan then filed a civil action against the police and the government for wrongful imprisonment.
-- BERNAMA
