The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ordered the release of Keadilan supreme council member N Gobalakrishnan who has been in police custody since his arrest on Saturday night under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act.

Justice Ahmad Maarop said Gobalakrishnan's detention was invalid as the remanding magistrate had not put on record the reasons in granting the week-long remand.

He added the opposition leader should not be arrested again during the remaining three days of the remand order.

The Keadilan leader was arrested by police in Penang while on his way to attend a ceramah (public talk).

He was then brought before a magistrate at her house in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday for the remand application.

On Monday, his wife R Vasanthi filed an application with the High Court seeking a review of the order.

National security

Arguing for the order to be upheld this afternoon, deputy public prosecutor Zauyah Be Loth Khan said the police had reasons to believe that the investigation could not be completed within 24 hours.

She said Gobalakrishnan's statement about the police was detrimental to national security and could stir up anger among Malaysian Indians towards the authorities.

The Keadilan leader was alleged to have said that police brutalised Indian youths in lock-ups and executed them in a trigger-happy manner between 2001 and August this year.

These remarks, made during a ceramah in Kelantan were said to be contained in VCDs that were available to the public.

Zauyah told the court that the police also wanted to trace those who filmed the ceramah and manufactured the VCDs.

"They want to know if the suspect and other relevant parties still have the VCDs. If so, they need to confiscate the remaining stock to prevent any further damage," she said.

She added that the remand order was necessary because police wanted to identify witnesses at the ceramah, perform tests to determine if it was Gobalakrishnan's voice on the VCD, and to prepare charges to be handed over to the public prosecutor's office.

The prosecutor said the police also wanted to ascertain if the ceramah had really taken place in Kota Baru since preliminary investigation suggested otherwise.

Raising grievances

In response, defence counsel P Uthayakumar said the police should have found out these details themselves instead of taking for granted the provision to apply for a remand order.

He added that his client as a politician was merely raising the grievances of the family members of those who died in police custody or were shot dead by the police.

Another counsel M Manoharan said Gobalakrishnan was willing to cooperate with the police but was not asked to be present at any police station to have his statement recorded prior to his arrest.

In his judgment, Justice Ahmad noted that the magistrate who issued the remand order should have abided by the mandatory provision to record her reasons.

He added that the police log which documented the day-by-day proceedings had only two entries since Gobalakrishnan's arrest and this information was insufficient for the magistrate to make a decision.

The Keadilan leader's arrest was prompted by a police report lodged by MIC Youth Social action bureau chief T Mohan against the former over his controversial remarks.

When met later, Gobalakrishnan said he was happy with the judgment but felt tired after being in custody for four days.

Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act deals with offences of uttering seditious words. If found guilty, a person charged with a first offence will face a maximum three-year jail term and a RM5,000 fine.

Last June, Gobalakrishnan and another Keadilan leader were freed by the Shah Alam High Court from their Internal Security Act detention, after it was ruled that their incarceration was mala fide or in bad faith.

He and nine other Keadilan leaders and activists had been held under the security law two months earlier for allegedly trying to overthrow the government through militant means.

Six of them have been given an extended two-year detention at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak. Since August however, one of them, Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, has been placed in the Kajang Prison to serve a two-year jail term for breaching the Official Secrets Act.