The 31 individuals charged with the attempted murder of a policeman during a recent gathering in Batu Caves have appealed against the Sessions Court’s decision to refuse them bail pending trial.

The appeal was filed this morning by counsel GK Ganesan with the secretary of judicial commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim of the Shah Alam High Court criminal division. However, no date has been set to hear the appeal.

Yesterday, the men were denied bail by Sessions Court judge Azimah Omar due to the severity of the charges and national security reasons.

Prior to the decision, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who led the prosecution team, had refused to bail on grounds that attempted murder is a non-bailable charge.

The 31 were also charged with causing mischief with criminal force, with 12 facing an additional charge of participating in an illegal assembly.

In the application, Ganesan argued that the prosecution did not furnish any evidence to support the refusal to offer bail.

“When the court’s discretion is exercised in the absence of such evidence - as was done here - the Sessions Court fell into error of the most fundamental kind,” he said.

Vague charge

In addition, Ganesan argued that the nature of the charge is ambivalent as the purported injuries against Dadi Abdul Rani, the policeman who was allegedly attacked, were not made known to the court.

On the charge sheet, the AG accused the 31 of attempting to murder Dadi between 1am to 8am on Nov 25.

“This leads to the presumption that the ‘victim’ was assaulted by one or other of the accused or all of them from 1am to 8am - a vital element of the charge that is logically unsustainable,” said Ganesan

He said the long time range indicated in the charge sheet, coupled with the fact that the accused were arrested at different times and places, were legally flawed.

“All these lead to ambiguity, resulting in the charge being fundamentally flawed in relation to time, space and intent,” he stressed.

Among others, Ganesan (left) also argued that the Sessions Court judge decided to deny bail despite the prosecution team committing the following:

• ‘Rolling up’ capital offences and non-capital offences against the group

• Failure to produce evidence that the accused would abscond

• Failure to prove that the accused would participate in similar activities in the future

At the time of writing, the Shah Alam High Court had not decided on a date to hear the review application.

Azimah has fixed Jan 14 -18 to hear the case. The accused are being held at the Sungai Buloh prison.