Bill: Electronic monitoring device on those on bail
An accused person released on bail by the court may soon find themselves with a new gadget to wear with them.
An accused person released on bail by the court may soon find themselves with a new gadget to wear with them.
Instead of smartwatches being promoted by various technology companies however, these would be electronic monitoring devices that would report the wearer’s location to the police.
This comes under a new provision proposed for the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). It was tabled by Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar (below) at the Dewan Rakyat this morning.
If passed and gazetted, the court may at its discretion decide whether a person being released on bail should also wear the device.
Tampering with the device, or failing to meet any of the other bail conditions, would result in the bail being revoked.
A bail is a sum of money kept by the court as a deposit to ensure that an accused person would attend court and meet other requirements, instead of locking the accused under police custody to ensure compliance.
For example, the two Perak assemblypersons Chang Lih Kang and Tan Kar Hing charged for obstructing a public officer this morning were imposed a RM2,000 bail each.
There had been two recent high-profile cases where an accused had jumped bail and sought asylum in a foreign country.
They are political activist Ali Abdul Jalil who fled to Sweden after being slapped with multiple charges under the Sedition Act 1948, and sex blogger Alvin Tan who fled to the United States after he and his partner Vivian Lee were charged under the Sedition Act and the Film Censorship Act.
RM10,000 for brave crimebusters
Another proposed CPC amendment seeks to increase the monetary reward given to those who show "unusual courage, diligence or exertion" in apprehending criminals.
Presently, the sum of the reward is only up to RM100, but the amendment tabled in Parliament today calls for sums ranging from RM1,000 to RM10,000 – a 100-fold increase in the maximum reward.
The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) also take away power to award the money from the court and gives it to the home minister instead.
"Clause 17 (of the amendment bill) seeks to amend Section 430 of Act 593 to empower the minister instead of the court to reward a private person who has shown unusual courage, diligence or exertion in the apprehension of a person involved with a crime," said the explanatory clause of the bill.
Other amendment bills tabled by Wan Junaidi are the Prisons Act, Penal Code, Crime Prevention Act, and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act.
Apart from the additional bail conditions and the boost in monetary reward, the proposed amendments to the CPC also contained various provisions meant to tackle organised crime.
One of these relates to the admissibility of expert witnesses’ testimonies in court in proving whether a person is a member of an organised criminal group.
The court will presume someone is part of a criminal gang he or she is linked to structures, rituals, ceremonies, hand signs, insignia and other characteristics that an expert testifies is linked to the group.
These will be deemed as "conclusive evidence", the provision reads.
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