The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has raised concern regarding the police's practice of rearresting and obtaining a new remand against individuals whose remand period had just expired.
Its commissioner Jerald Joseph (photo) questioned whether this is an abuse of the "rule of law" concept.
"A person is arrested and remanded. He can be detained for up to a maximum of 14 days. It should be that when the investigation is completed, whatever the suspicion is, the police will decide whether to charge the person in court or to free him.
"But from the complaints that we received, after 14 days, there's a new police report filed, so you have to undergo another remand.
"After that (remand period is over), you will be brought to another police station based on a new report where you will again be arrested and remanded."
Without revealing details, Joseph said there's a case where an individual was going in and out of the lock-up for 39 days through a "chain remand".
"Is this an abuse of the 'rule of law' concept? From the legal aspect, it's not wrong but if the report is filed by the cops themselves, then this can be a disadvantage to the person.
"If you (cops) could not complete the investigation, why add (the detention period), what is it for?"
He added that in certain cases, the peak of the chain was when the police decided to investigate certain individuals under the prevention of crime act (Poca) where they could be detained for up to 60 days.
He urged the relevant stakeholders to look at the whole investigation procedure.
"Our recommendation is that the magistrates must ask (the police): What have you done so far? How long has the accused been probed? Why do you need so many days?'
"The magistrate must ensure the accused is represented. Many of the accused couldn't hire a lawyer as they are poor but they are unaware of the National Legal Aid Foundation. They must be informed of the availability of this aid.
"Another proposal is upon the release of the accused, the magistrate must tell the police not to re-arrest the person within 24 hours," he said.
Joseph suggested that if an accused has several police reports lodged against him, the reports should be integrated. It will save everyone's time from hauling the accused from one police station to another, sometimes, from state to state.
"We need an integrated system. If there are nine reports lodged against one person, is it appropriate to bring the accused to every police station?
"Perhaps the Attorney-General, Home Ministry, and the police can look into ways to improve the system," he said. - Mkini
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