Human rights advocate and lawyer P Uthayakumar has sent a letter to the Inspector-General Police Norian Mai alleging harassment, verbal abuse and obstruction of justice by police officers while he was attending to clients at the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court on Monday.

The letter was faxed yesterday to the IGP's office at Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur and hand-delivered later by Police Watch and Human Rights Committee chairperson RN Rajah. Copies were sent to the Bar Council and several police division heads.

Uthayakumar said four suspects had been remanded by police for seven days in connection with a snatch-theft case reported on Oct 1.

On Monday, he went to the court on the request of a family member of one of the suspects, as the police were seeking to extend their remand by another nine days.

Before the proceedings began, Uthayakumar said he tried to establish such matters as whether an identification parade had been conducted, the age of his clients, if they had a past record and circumstances of their arrest.

He alleged that, as he started speaking to them in the court room, about 10 plainclothes and uniformed police officers started shouting at him.

Uthayakumar described the officers as acting like "licensed gangsters" as they obstructed him from speaking to his clients.

"Why the obstruction and harassment if they (the police) have nothing to hide and are acting above board and in accordance with the Federal Constitution and the laws of Malaysia?" asked Uthayakumar in the letter, which was issued by his firm Kumar, Hashimah & Co.

Uthayakumar also claimed the police officers had acted contrary to law when they barred family members from entering the court room, adding that this was contrary to Section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which provides for an open court hearing.

'Unbecoming behaviour'

Uthayakumar then left the court room to complain about the officers' conduct to magistrate Yasmin Abdul Razak, who was said to be temporarily engaged in another matter elsewhere in the building.

When he tried to re-enter the court room, his way was allegedly blocked for a while by a plainclothes officer (named in the letter), who "verbally abused and threatened" him.

Uthayakumar urged the IGP to initiate criminal or disciplinary action against the police personnel involved and to put a stop to harassment of lawyers who are discharging their duties.

"We are all 'partners in arms' in upholding the cause of justice not only to the victims, but also to the 'mere suspects' who are innocent until proven guilty," he said in the letter.

When contacted this morning for details, Uthayakumar said the officers' behavior was completely unbecoming, unwarranted, and uncalled for.

"Why would they want to stop me from doing my job properly by abusing me that way and threatening me with arrest?" he asked.

"At least the magistrate was kind and patient enough to wait beyond court time to listen to my arguments opposing the prosecution's application to extend remand."

He said the magistrate rejected the remand application and ordered the release of the suspects within 24 hours, if investigations had still had not produced evidence compelling further detention.

Uthayakumar added that a memorandum will be submitted to Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim on the issue of court proceedings being sometimes conducted "behind closed doors", contrary to the CPC.

The memorandum will also urge the Chief Justice to act against 'serial remands', where some police allegedly transfer suspects from one station to another in order to obtain additional periods of remand from magistrates.