Remand Application Dismissed

Yesterday, I covered my “best-magistrate-buddy” for his remand duty. A remand what? In my own term, a remand order is applied by the police or prosecutor for a lawful detention of a criminal suspect before a charge is framed against him. It is to allow the police to complete their investigation against that particular suspect. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, for offences below 14 years imprisonment, the remand can be made twice. The first application is for a maximum of 4 days and the second a maximum of 3 days. For offences above 14 years imprisonment, both the applications are for a maximum of 7 days.

In Kuala Lumpur, since we have a number of Magistrates and remand application is a daily thingy (criminals do not rest on public holidays if you might have noticed), remand duty is a according to duty roster prepared by the administration clerk.

Sometimes, when circumstances do not permit you to go and do your remand duty, you can ask your colleague to cover your ass and vice verca.

Most of the time, the investigating officer is not around to brief you. You have the remand officer who was briefed by the investigating officer. When I do not have the luxury of the investigating officer to brief me, I will spend a little bit more time reading the whole application. If the investigating officer is beside me, I can easily get the information I need to approve or disapprove a remand application.

The suspects are all in handcuffs and because of that, I feel safe enough to sit at the interpreter’s place to conduct my remand application. You never know when the suspect might just jump at you if they are not cuffed.

So as I was meticulously reading the investigation diary of each suspect, I noticed a familiar face amongst the suspects before me. When his turn came, I first asked if it was a fresh remand application or a continuation remand application. I was informed that it was a fresh remand. Then I asked him, “Pernah kena tahan sebelum ni?” He said yes. I asked, “ Bila kena tahan dan siapa kasi remand?” This was what he said:

“Kena tahan sebelum ni 18.9.2008. Tuanlah yang bagi remand!”

That’s it! I knew his face was familiar. I was shocked and impressed that I could remember his face amongst the hundreds of suspect I had before me.

Anyhow, to cut the matter short, since the investigating officer was not present and the investigation diary did not raise any reason to my mind that the suspect should be detain any longer, I did not allow for the remand application.

It’s strange to know that you were the person responsible for to detain the suspect earlier and you are also the person releasing him at the present moment. There are many reasons why we must always be honest in disposing our duties and responsibilities. You never know when your past might just come back to haunt you.

Blog adjourned!