KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — The High Court here will decide on February 5 the applications for bail by Seremban Jaya state assemblyman P. Gunasekaran and DAP member V. Suresh Kumar who are facing charges in connection with the LTTE terrorist group and on whether Section 13 of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) is unconstitutional.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin, presiding separate courts, set the date after hearing submissions Attorney General (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, deputy public prosecutors Rohaiza Abd Rahman and Mohd Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi and counsel Ramkarpal Singh representing the applicants.

On January 16, the two judges directed the parties to submit if the applications by Gunasekaren, 60, and Suresh Kumar, 44, on the constitutionality of Section 13 were bound by a separate High Court decision that it was unconstitutional.

Earlier, Thomas and Ramkarpal agreed with the decision by another High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali that Section 13 is unconstitutional because it offended Section 121(1) of the Federal Constitution.

On November 29, Justice Mohd Nazlan ruled that Section 13 was unconstitutional and contrary to Section 121(1) of the Federal Constitution because it divests from the courts the judicial discretionary power to evaluate whether or not to grant or refuse bail. — Bernama