JULY 16 — According to Malay Mail report, Crackhouse Comedy Club open mic participant Siti Nuramira Abdullah, who went viral for a performance deemed offensive to Islam, pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing disharmony and hatred at the Sessions Court.
The court allowed her RM20,000 bail with one surety.
Nuramira’s boyfriend Alexander Navin Vijayachandran too pleaded not guilty to two charges of using social media to promote and upload content meant to insult the public at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.
The court set bail at RM10,000 per offence.
According to reports by The Vibes, the duo would be appealing to the public for financial aid to make bail of RM20,000 each, after failing to cough it up when the bail amount was set by the respective courts.
The duo’s lawyer R. Sivaraj said their legal team would be launching a crowdfunding campaign as some people have expressed an interest to donate.
As rightly pointed out by Sivaraj, the purpose of bail is not to punish the accused but to ensure their attendance at subsequent court hearings.
Section 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) says that the bail amount must be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the case as being sufficient to secure the attendance of the person arrested, but shall not be excessive.
Section 389 also refers to the power of the High Court to reduce or increase the amount of bail required by a court. It is a power that is exercisable once an order for bail has been made.
The High Court has absolute discretionary powers to vary bail from the time of arrest right up to the time of conviction. It may grant bail when bail has been refused. It may reduce the amount of bail if the amount is excessive So, if a person should not be kept in custody for a moment longer than is necessary, then recourse should be made to the speedy procedure of Section 389. It is a simple criminal application by way of a notice of motion to a High Court judge.
Expediency and speed are the essence of Section 389 of the CPC.
It would be curious that the public is being sought for crowdfunding purposes but not the High Court judge to direct that the bail amount be reduced.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
