Cabinet approval has been granted to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979 to empower the relevant Magistrate to visit the police station at least once a month to supervise a suspect in police custody in the Judicial Division appointed by a Magistrate.
Accordingly, the draftsman has prepared a Bill and the Cabinet has approved the proposal made by the Minister of Justice, Ali Sabbari, PC to publish the Bill in the Government Gazette and thereafter.
Earlier, a magistrate went to the police stations in the area to investigate any incident. (Such as on-site inspections). But with this amendment, the magistrate can go on to supervise suspects in police custody even if there is no case to investigate.
The Ministry of Justice hopes to prevent informal filing of cases by the police. For example, when filing a case, clauses are imposed by an officer below the rank of Chief of Police. If the clause that files the charge against him is erroneous, the suspect will be produced before the court on a false clause. Therefore, the purpose of this amendment is to prevent such irregular activities. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that another purpose was to look into the condition of the suspects