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Showing posts from November, 2019

Key Legal Development: Bail under SOSMA? The case of Raman Shunmugham v PP [2019] 1 LNS 896

Background: - The Applicant was charged with the offence of being a member of an organized criminal group under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code which is an unbailable offence under section 13(1) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA). Upon dismissal of the Applicant’s bail application by the High Court, the matter was appealed to the Court of Appeal by way of Notice of Motion pursuant to Section 72(4) of the Court of Appeal Rules 1994. Issue: - Whether the Applicant was entitled to bail under Section 388 and 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 13(2)(c) of SOSMA. Decision: - The Court of Appeal found that the High Court Judge had erred in rejecting the bail application. The Court of Appeal in its judgment enumerated that the three objections raised by the Prosecution that (i) the offence is an unbailable offence under section 13(1) of SOSMA, (ii) the Applicant did not make the application under section 13(2) of SOSMA and (iii) Applicant has fail