PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has fixed Sept 15 to decide on an appeal by the police and government against a finding of liability for the wrongful detention of former anti-crime activist R Sri Sanjeevan.
Lawyer Preakas Sampunathan said the date was fixed during case management on Tuesday.
The appeal was heard on June 21, before a panel of three judges chaired by Justice S Nantha Balan. Also hearing the appeal were Justice See Mee Chun and Azimah Omar.
Last year, the High Court granted Sanjeevan’s lawsuit and allowed general, exemplary and aggravated damages to be awarded against both the police and the government, with the quantum to be assessed at a separate hearing that will be held later.
Sanjeevan, the former Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force chairman, filed the suit in 2019 against the investigating officer Poonnam E Keling, the police and the government for wrongfully detaining him.
He was arrested on July 10, 2016, based on an allegation that he was involved in organised violence.
The court also ruled that Sanjeevan’s detention from July 10 to 26, 2016 was unlawful.
“No evidence was adduced by the defendants (police, government) to prove that the plaintiff (Sanjeevan) was suspected of being involved in ‘organised violence’ before his arrest,” Justice Ahmad Bache said in his grounds.
During the trial, the court also heard that Sanjeevan had been handcuffed and assaulted during his detention. A police report was also lodged.
Ahmad said the government failed to adduce evidence to rebut Sanjeevan’s claims of assault.
“A doctor who attended to Sanjeevan’s injuries was not called to testify.
“The medical report from the doctor, tendered by the defendants, confirmed the plaintiff’s injuries had strengthened his case and weakened the defendants’ case,” the court said.
