Amendment to Section 21 of Police Act needed, IGP says

There is a need for the police to amend Section 21 of the Police Act 1967 (Act 344), which is related to escort duties.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said that with the amendment, the punishment for offences including obstructing a civil servant on duty, as stipulated in Section 21 of Act 344, will also be increased, similar to Section 186 of the Penal Code.

“In my opinion, we (police) rarely use Section 21 because we have Section 186 of the Penal Code.

“There should be no problem if Section 21 is amended. We will use both and follow which one is better and appropriate. There is indeed a need,” he said.

Razarudin said this after the handing over of duties ceremony of the Kuala Lumpur police chief and chairperson of the Kuala Lumpur Police Family Association (Perkep) at the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters today.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain

Amendments to the Police Act 1967 (Act 344), involving changes to 10 clauses, were tabled in the Dewan Rakyat for the first reading on March 18.

Among them, Clause 4 is seeking to amend Section 21 to provide for the obligation of police officers to carry out escort duties on any public road, and any person who obstructs, opposes or fails to comply with police instructions may be fined up to RM10,000 and imprisoned for up to two years compared with the previous penalty of RM200 and two months in jail.

Meanwhile, Razarudin said that there should not be any issues regarding the amendments because all of them have already been decided by the authority.

“Everything has been decided in Parliament,” he said.

- Bernama