Criminal Procedure Code

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE

KANUN TATACARA JENAYAH

Act 593 · consolidated to 4 Jul 2023 · 206 pp

Artistic freedomSocio-economic rights

This copy of the Act is 3 years old. Any amendment made since 4 July 2023 is not in this text. Check the AGC record for later amendments.

Why it matters

What this does to artists

What is supposed to happen to you between being stopped and being charged. Section 28A is the one to know: you must be told the grounds of your arrest, and you may contact a relative and a lawyer of your choice and consult that lawyer out of hearing of the police. Section 117 governs how long you can be held before a magistrate has to extend it. The rest of the Code is the machinery of bail, search, seizure and charge.

Watch this

Read s.28A together with s.28A(8), not on its own. Subsection (8) lets the police delay your access to a lawyer where it would interfere with evidence or with the arrest of someone else, so a refusal at the counter can be lawful. Knowing only the right and not the exception is how people conclude the police are acting illegally when they are not, and it makes the situation worse. Ask for the grounds in writing, say you want a lawyer, and say nothing else.

Start here

What to read first

Section numbers read out of the AGC text itself

topicPerson arrested to be informed of grounds of arrest

topicArrest how made

topicSearch of place entered by person sought to be arrested

topicProcedure when investigation cannot be completed within twenty-four hours

topicWhen police may require attendance of witnesses

topicBailable and non-bailable offences

In practice

Where this one bites

Scenario

Stopped, raided, shut down or arrested

This is a frightening place to be, and it usually has more give in it than it feels like. Most of these turn o…

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Full text

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English text

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Teks Bahasa Malaysia

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Source of record · lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=593&lang=BI

Who this reaches

Visual artsMusicFilm & TVPerforming artsLiterature, writing & publishingFashion & craftDigital & mediaMuseum & archivingContent creationEverything else

Important notice

This page is published by ALIM (Art × Law Initiative Malaysia) as general legal information for Malaysia’s creative communities. It is not legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship with ALIM or with anyone associated with it.

The law changes. Each Act reproduced here is the Attorney General’s Chambers’ consolidated reprint and carries the date it was consolidated to; amendments made after that date do not appear in the text, and the authoritative version of any Malaysian law is the one published in the Federal Gazette. Subsidiary legislation, state enactments and local authority by-laws may also apply to your situation and are largely outside this library.

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