Seven file challenge against remand order linked to Sg Gong pollution
A director of a company that sells and repairs construction machinery and six other men have filed a criminal revision application against a Selayang Magistrate’s Court order for a six-day extension of their remand.
The seven applicants, who were being investigated over a pollution incident at Sungai Gong, Rawang, Selangor, filed their legal bid at the Shah Alam High Court Registry on Oct 30.
A director of a company that sells and repairs construction machinery and six other men have filed a criminal revision application against a Selayang Magistrate’s Court order for a six-day extension of their remand.
The seven applicants, who were being investigated over a pollution incident at Sungai Gong, Rawang, Selangor, filed their legal bid at the Shah Alam High Court Registry on Oct 30.
The Selayang Magistrate’s Court had two days before that granted a six-day extension on the remand for eight men in connection with the probe into the Sungai Gong pollution incident. The suspects were earlier remanded for seven days from Oct 22.
Out of the eight men, seven of them constitute the applicants of the criminal revision application to challenge the order for the extension of the remand.
According to a copy of the notice of motion sighted by Malaysiakini this afternoon, the seven applicants, aged between 28 and 66, seek a declaration that they had been wrongfully detained in violation of Article 5 of the Federal Constitution and Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Article 5 enshrines an individual’s fundamental right to personal liberty while Section 117 is in relation to the procedure for application of a remand order.
The cause papers state that the declaration sought is in relation to the Selayang Magistrate’s Court’s order on Oct 28 allowing for the extension of the remand for the seven applicants.
The seven said they sought the revision application as the Oct 28 order allegedly amounted to a misdirection of the law under Section 117.
Speaking to Malaysiakini today, the seven applicants’ counsel Omar Kutty confirmed the filing of the criminal revision application.
The lawyer said that the application came up for mention before Shah Alam High Court judicial commissioner Norsharidah Awang today and that the court had fixed Nov 24 to hear the revision application.
Omar explained that if the High Court granted the application, the seven could proceed with the filing a civil suit against the police for damages.
“With that (the declaration sought from the High Court), we can proceed for a civil case against PDRM for damages if the High Court agrees the remand was baseless or was not in accordance with the law,” the lawyer said.
On whether the seven applicants have since been released upon expiry of the remand on Nov 3, Omar confirmed they had been freed.
The lawyer added that so far, two out of the seven applicants have been charged in court over the water pollution incident.
On Nov 3, at the Selayang Sessions Court, it was reported that father and son pair, Chai Kin Sang and Chai Wern Teik, were charged with two counts of committing mischief by allegedly releasing waste containing hazardous material into Sungai Gong.
The seven applicants were being investigated under Section 430 of the Penal Code for allegedly committing mischief by causing a diminution in the supply of water for agricultural purposes or food or drink for human beings or animals.
The provision specifies a jail sentence of between five and 30 years or a fine or both upon conviction.
It was reported that Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) detected an abnormal odour at a raw water source at 12.38am on Oct 19, leading to the stopping of operations at the Rantau Panjang water treatment plant (LRA).
This had disrupted water supply to 1,292 areas in multiple districts in the Klang Valley.
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