Augustine Paul J:

In this case Dato' Balwant Singh ("the accused"), an advocate and solicitor, was charged with an offence of murder. The charge reads as follows:

Bahawa kamu pada 7.6.2002 jam lebih kurang 4.30 petang, bertempat di Jalan Maarof, Bangsar di dalam daerah Brickfields, di dalam Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur telah melakukan satu pembunuhan dengan menyebabkan kematian ke atas Gobala Krishnan a/l Rajamugundan, (No Kad Pengenalan: 690311-07-5247), dan oleh yang demikian kamu telah melakukan satu kesalahan yang boleh dihukum di bawah Seksyen 302 Kanun Keseksaan.

When the charge was read and explained to the accused he claimed trial. The defence then applied that the accused be enlarged on bail pursuant to s. 388 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The material parts of the section read as follows:

388 (1) When any person accused of any non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by a police officer or appears or is brought before a Court, he may be released on bail by the officer in charge of the police district or by that Court, but he shall not be so released if there appears reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence p