High Court: Disallowing bail under Sosma is unconstitutional
KUALA LUMPUR: In a landmark decision today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that DAP assemblyman G Saminathan will be allowed to apply for bail despite Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) disallows bail for its detainees.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali, in his decision, found the Sosma provision that barred the courts from considering bail to be unconstitutional, as it effectively allowed the executive to usurp the powers of judiciary, thus violating the separation of powers among the different branches of the government.
The landmark decision will also benefit others who are detained under the preventive law despite already being charged with supporting or possessing materials related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Saminathan was among the 12 people, including Seremban Jaya assemblyman P Gunasekaran, who were detained under Sosma and charged over alleged links to LTTE.
Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh, who represented Saminathan, argued previously that the provision denying Sosma detainees bail was unconstitutional, allowing the security law to infringe civil liberties.
Among others, he said, this effectively arrogates the powers of the judiciary as well as its lawful discretion on legal issues.
Aside from Saminathan and Gunasekaran, the others detained under Sosma are V Balamurugan; S Teran; A Kalaimughilan; S Chandru; S Arivainthan; S Thanagaraj; M Pumugan; R Sundram; V Suresh Kumar and B Subramaniam.
By Irman Hashim
