Human rights lawyer Augustine Anthony wants the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 to be amended to allow bail for the person charged with possession of drugs since some murder case suspects are also allowed bail.

Augustine said he will be filing an application at the Ipoh Sessions Court soon to release his 25-year-old client on bail.

His client, K Vijayakumar, has been charged with three counts of drugs possession under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

The accused has been held under remand in the Tapah Prison since he surrendered to the police on April 2. His case will be up for mention on July 14.

"Laws have changed and the courts are more flexible in granting bail. Even a person who is charged for murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code is now entitled to bail depending on the facts of the case," said Augustine.

"Why do we have laws such as the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 that prohibits bail for persons who are in possession of drug substances which are slightly more than 50gms?" he asked.

Three charges

This morning, Vijayakumar was charged in the Ipoh Sessions Court with three counts of possession of three different types of drugs on March 25, 2009 at about 6.20pm at the back lane of a house situated along Jalan Limau in Taman Mas Baru, Chemor in Kinta District.

He was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 to be in possession of 69.3gms of cannabis and can be sentenced under Section 39A(2) of the same Act which carries a life imprisonment or a minimum of five years jail with 10 strokes of the rotan.

He was also charged under Section 12(2) of the same Act to be in possession of 0.20gms of heroin and can be sentenced under Section 12 (3) which carries a fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment of up to five years or both.

And in additional, he was charged under Section 12 (2) to be in possession of 0.14gms of Monoacetylmorphines and can be slapped with a fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment up to five years or both.