George Varughese. -Bernamapic
PETALING JAYA: A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the judiciary must be set up "without delay", urges the Malaysian Bar.
In a statement on Monday (Aug 20), Malaysian Bar president George Varughese said an RCI is needed to investigate alleged instances of judicial misconduct and to recommend judicial reforms.
This comes following Court of Appeal judge Justice Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer’s claim last week that he was “severely reprimanded” by a top judge for his dissenting judgment in the M. Indira Gandhi unilateral conversion case.
Varughese said that a thorough investigation into the case needed to be undertaken to ascertain the extent of any interference in the ability of judges to make impartial decisions.
“Any attempt by a top judge (or any other judge) to curtail the ability of other judges to exercise their autonomy in the performance of their judicial duties is an abuse of power, and represents a serious instance of judicial misconduct.
“The reprimanding of a judge for a decision that was made based on the facts and the applicable laws, but that is not to the liking of the top judge, would undoubtedly send a warning signal to others within the Judiciary to conform and ‘toe the line’,” he said.
He said the RCI must also "put in place measures to ensure that no manner of coercion, influence or threat is ever brought to bear on any judge".
On Dec 30, 2015, in a 2-1 decision, the three-judge Court of Appeal panel which included Justice Hamid Sultan, ruled that the civil courts had no jurisdiction over the conversion of Indira’s children to Islam, which it said was solely the purview of the Syariah courts.
In his dissenting decision, Justice Hamid Sultan said the Administration of Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004, the law that allowed for the conversion, could be questioned by a civil court.
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