Authorities continue blame game, as two drug suspects are freed twice

Authorities continue to play the blame game, as two drug suspects are freed for a second time.

They, a 25-year-old man and 52-year-old woman, were first arrested at around 3:10am on Tuesday, in a raid conducted at a house in Hulhumalé. While police had confiscated three kilogram of drugs in the raid, the suspects were released by the Criminal Court at a hearing held later that day, saying that Hulhumalé Magistrate Court’s orders were “incomplete.”

Both were rearrested early Wednesday morning, but this time were released by the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court.

Media official at the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) told RaajjeMV that the court released them due to police’s failure to send the investigating officer assigned to the case, to Wednesday’s remand hearing.

The court said that the police had violated Article 8 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

If the case investigating officer is unable to attend the hearing, the court has to be officially informed of the matter via a letter.

However, Faisal noted that police had not done so.

While both were first arrested early Tuesday morning, they were presented to the Criminal Court for a remand hearing later in the day.

The court released them, saying that both the raid and arrest orders were “incomplete.”

The DJA media official had said that the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court orders violated Articles 32 (a, 12) and 41 (b, 6) of the Criminal Procedure Act; which entails that both raid arrest orders to have the signature of the judge making the authorization, as well as the court stamp.

According to the Criminal Court, that both orders lacked the required signature and stamp.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the court said that the police’s actions in the case “raises questions.”

As such, it questioned the police’s reasons for obtaining a second arrest after their initial release, instead of appealing the court ruling. The court also highlighted that the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court, that issued the second arrest order, had also released them due to police’s failure to complete procedures.

The statement also highlighted that the woman was arrested after her son confessed that the drugs were his, and that her arrest form shows that there were no allegations against her.

Hence, the court said that she was released "on the information provided by officers," while her son was released due to incomplete court orders.

While the story was carried out by all local news outlets, the Criminal Court said that the manner in which police had provided the information had been “irresponsible and damages the judiciary’s image.”

While the arrests were made early in the morning, police said that its investigator on night duty had booked them and conducted all the administrative work related to the case.

Noting that the officer that attended the remand hearing was the one on morning shift, police said that both officers have the clearance to handle the matter. It added that an officer is officially assigned to the case after the remand hearing.

Police said that they were released on the grounds that the investigating officer was not present at the remand hearing, but noted that “this has never been an issue in the past.”