The welfare and interest of Kuala Lumpur Bar members are the most important priorities of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee. The wrongful arrest of our members, especially in the course of their duty cannot be tolerated and steps are being taken at the Bar Council level (with the participation of the Chairman and the Representative of the KL Bar) to address this. In respect of the recent arrest of our member, P Uthayakumar, the KLBC requested the Chairman of the Criminal Practice Committee, N Sivananthan (picture) to attend to the arrest of Uthayakumar and below is his report.
“I refer to the letter by Suren. I was informed of Uthayakumar’s arrest by Chee Wee and Ravi at around 1230pm on 8.6.2006 and that he was being held at the Setapak police station. I arrived at Setapak police station at around 215 pm and found that Uthayakumar and 4 other people arrested with him were in the process of lodging their police reports on the mistreatment they suffered at the hands of the police. I met Suren at the police station and spoke briefly to Uthayakumar to inform him that I would speak to the police to ensure that he would not be detained any longer than necessary.
I then spoke to the officer in charge one Chief Inspector Bala Subramaniam who was willing to fill me in with the details once he knew the capacity in which I was there. He had his own take on the events that had occurred but I impressed upon him that Uthayakumar should not be detained longer than necessary and the issue of whether they wanted to charge him in court or otherwise was a separate issue. Bala assured me that he would expedite matters but that his instructions were to take all those arrested to Sentul police station for further instructions.
I then proceeded to Sentul and met the Deputy OCPD one ACP Rodzi bin Ismail who agreed to meet me the moment he knew the capacity in which I was there. After a brief meeting, he gave me his assurance that once the police took statements from those arrested, he would ensure that Uthayakumar would be released and that in any event he would not be detained overnight and this assurance in fact was carried out. I also told him that statements should be taken without any delay and he told me that the Investigating Officer was already waiting for their arrival from Setapak police station. I then left the police station.”
If members are of the view that more can be done, we appreciate both your feedback and assistance.
Lim Chee Wee
Chairman of the KL Bar
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