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A police officer may ordinarily arrest without warrant any person suspected of committing a seizable offence such as unlawfully causing the death of another person. Any police officer above the rank of Sergeant or Officer-in-Charge of a station may without the order from the Public Prosecutor carry out investigations into any seizable offence. A police officer making an arrest without a warrant may remand a suspect for up to 24 hours, during which time the suspect must be produced before a Magistrate for a further order of remand under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code or the suspect may be released on police bail or may be released unconditionally or may be charged in Court. Upon expiry of the remand period ordered by the Magistrate under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code, any person arrested may be released unconditionally or be released on bail or charged in Court. The maximum period of remand under Section 117 is 14 days. When the Police decide not to charge a person but to release on Police bail, it is done at the discretion of the Police. The Investigating Officer will normally decide on the quantum of the bail and the length of time that the suspect is released on bail.

In cases of sudden death or where the death of a person has been unlawfully caused by another, the Police would normally carry out the investigations to determine the apparent cause of death as ascertainable by inspection or by post-mortem examinations on the body of the deceased and to determine whether the death was caused by any unlawful act or omission on the part of any other person. In cases where the police are able to determine that a person is criminally implicated or responsible for the death of another, the police should rightly recommend to the Public Prosecutor to exercise his discretion and judgment to charge that person for murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code or for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Penal Code.

In cases where a police officer has received information that either a person has committed suicide or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident or that a person has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence or that the body of a dead person has been found and it is not known how he came by his death, or that a person has died a sudden death, such officer shall immediately proceed to the place where the body of such deceased body is and carry out investigations as to the apparent cause of death. In cases where no arrest has been effected, or where a suspect has not been charged for an offence of unlawfully causing the death of another, that case should be referred to a Magistrate who may exercise his powers under Section 333 of the Criminal Procedure Code on whether to hold an inquiry into the death of the deceased.

The Bar Council wishes to reiterate its stand that the police powers to investigate into any alleged offence should remain unfettered and the investigations must be carried out according to law. The police ought not to allow their duty to act fairly and reasonably to be affected in any way or be coloured by any extraneous and non-legal considerations.

The Bar Council is also of the view that in cases where the apparent cause of death is known and where death has resulted in any way from or was accelerated by any unlawful act or omission on the part of any other person, that person should immediately be arrested and investigated with the view of having him being charged in court by the Prosecution. The Prosecution need not refer the case to a Magistrate for an inquest to be held nor await the verdict of the coroner before charging the suspect.

Dated this 14th day of April 2001

Mah Weng Kwai
Chairman

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