Raja Azlan Shah FJ:

In this appel which we dismissed the central issue was the time-honoured question of the constitutional right of an arrested person to counsel. When does such right begin?

The learned trial judge had this to say:

It will be seen that the law regarding the constitutional right to consult counsel must be reconciled with actual practice with regard to police investigations under the Criminal Procedure Code.seems to me that as the purpose of detention under s. 117 CPC is for the purpose of completing investigations and as the constitutional right to consult counsel 'should not be exercised to the detriment of investigation', then for so long as an arrested person is detained under s. 117 CPC he cannot exercise his right to consult counsel. I therefore hold that the right to consult counsel begins from the moment of arrest but the exercise of that right is postponed for so long as the arrested person is detained under s. 117 CPC.

In this case the request to consult counsel was made during the period the plaintiff was under detention under s. 117 CPC. The plaintiff, therefore, could not exercise his right at the material time and consequently there could n