Court ruling proves cops not always right about the law, lawyer says

 

The police’s interpretation of the law is not always correct, said lawyer Ramachelvam Manimuthu today.

Commenting on the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling yesterday that the police had acted ultra vires (beyond powers) in prohibiting the Malaysian Bar Council’s assembly and march in June 2022, he said neither the police nor the government are infallible in interpreting the law.

“It (the ruling) is a vindication of the Bar’s position and it also shows that the police interpretation of the law is not always correct,” he told a panel at the Bar Council in Kuala Lumpur.

The courts are the final arbiters in interpreting the law, Ramachelvam (above) added.

The Bar organised the Walk for Judicial Independence on June 17, 2022 to protest the MACC’s investigation against Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who presided over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The police prevented lawyers attending the rally from marching to Parliament as part of the protest.

Walk for Judicial Independence on June 17, 2022

The legal professional body then filed a court order to compel the police to pay damages for preventing lawyers from heading to the august house.

It also sought multiple court declarations, including that the authorities violated the lawyers’ fundamental right to peaceful assembly.

Ramachelvam today said the Bar requested nominal damages of RM1 to show that its suit was due to a matter of principle.

“So the Bar took it up as a matter of principle that we had the right to assemble in a public place and we had the right to march to Parliament to present that memorandum.

“We had given the requisite notices,” said the co-chairperson of the Bar Council committee for civil law and law reform. - Mkini