Article 5. Liberty of the person.(1) No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.
(2) Where complaint is made to a High Court or any judge thereof that a person is being unlawfully detained the court shall inquire into the complaint and, unless satisfied that the detention is lawful, shall order him to be produced before the court and release him.
(3) Where a person is arrested he shall be informed as soon as may be of the grounds of his arrest and shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.
(4) Where a person is arrested and not released he shall without unreasonable delay, and in any case within twenty-four hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey) be produced before a magistrate and shall not be further detained in custody without the magistrate's authority:
Provided that this Clause shall not apply to the arrest or detention of any person under the existing law relating to restricted residence, and all the provisions of this Clause shall be deemed to have been an integral part of this Article as from Merdeka Day:
Provided further that in its application to a person, other than a citizen, who is arrested or detained under the law relating to immigration, this Clause shall be read as if there were substituted for the words "without unreasonable delay, and in any case within twenty-four hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey)" the words "within fourteen days":
And provided further that in the case of an arrest for an offence which is triable by a Syariah court, references in this Clause to a magistrate shall be construed as including references to a judge of a Syariah court.
(5) Clauses (3) and (4) do not apply to an enemy alien.
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Suhakam raps Immigration
Source:
PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has lambasted the Immigration Department for allowing a citizen to be held in an Immigration depot for 11 months.
Commissioner Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria said that what had happened to 22-year-old M. Rajeshvari was a great travesty.
Commissioner Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria said that what had happened to 22-year-old M. Rajeshvari was a great travesty.
The Star reported yesterday that Rajeshvari spent an agonising 11 months at the Lenggeng Immigration depot for illegals because she could not remember her identity card number when police checked her at a coffee shop in the capital and that she was not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia.
She was also six months’ pregnant at the time and gave birth to a boy while in detention.
Dr Denison said: “One should get to the root of how the verification was done. Holding a citizen like that is a violation of human rights.
“If language was a problem, they should have had an interpreter to get to the bottom of it. If it were not for the intervention of the clinic and a voluntary organisation, she would still be in there.
He noted that there could be various reasons for her inability to communicate, adding that Rajeshvari may have been terrified, not of sound mind or not confident.
“What safeguards are there? How can such a thing be avoided?” Dr Denison said, adding the Immigration Department must be held accountable and that an apology was not enough.
The Star received countless calls from members of the public and other interested parties about Rajeshvari's plight, some offering jobs and help.
Women’s Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah said the Home Ministry had to review the entire raiding and detention mechanism as it was in danger of violating human rights.
“There has to be a mechanism for such detained people to seek redress and ensure that this kind of mistake never happens again.
“There has to be a mechanism for such detained people to seek redress and ensure that this kind of mistake never happens again.
“When you detain people, you take away their freedom. You must make sure they have regular access to lawyers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Suhakam,” Josiah said.
However, Immigration Department enforcement chief Datuk Ishak Mohamed said that the burden of proof of citizenship was on the person suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
“The new Criminal Procedure Code also allows the suspect to make phone calls to anyone who can help,” he said, pointing out that the police had picked her up, not Immigration officials.
“But, please, don’t tell me that after 22 years, you cannot speak Bahasa Malaysia? You mean she would not know how to sing Negaraku either?” he added.
Rajeshvari was released from the depot in Seremban on Friday after Malaysian Indian Youth Council vice-president Andrew Raju got her birth certificate details from her primary school in Kampar.
Comments:
Is there any infringements of fundamental human rights on Rajeshvari?
The justification given by the authority does it comply with Article 5 of our Federal Constitution?
What is the duty of the authority when they detained a person who is suspected as an illegal immigrant?
The basic search that they have to do is to determine whether that particular person is actually an illegal immigrant not to transfer the burden of proof to the suspect expecting the suspect to tell the truth.
In this case, Rajeshvari's situation is pitiful and clear violation of human right. Is sinful to the authority to detain a person who cannot converse in Bahasa and give a clear identity to prove that she is a Malaysian.
How about the special children, illiterate and unsound mind persons? Do the authority have the clear guidelines and mechanisms to determine the identity of Malaysians and illegal immigrants?
What we are expecting from the authority to use commonsenses and have a proper guidelines not to penalise the innocent persons like Rajeshvari and her new born child.
Rajeshvari is only 22 years old and we do not know what had triggered her. What we can do as the caring Malaysians, to assist her to overcome this difficult situation. We need to think about the stigma that she and the baby have to carry throughout their life. It's sad to happen. Very sad.
We hope the authority will handle this kind situation very delicately in near future to avoid any violations of human rights under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
May god bless Rajeshvari and her child always!
Comments
Being stupid is one thing but being stupid and being a DG of very important organizations is another thing!!!\
Go down in the field and see ur own eye what is is the problem that many ordinary plp having. a bit of human right concern would have free the poor women..but !!