High Court Judge erred in holdina that the RM's court had
jurisdiction to deliberate and decided on those matters" ... (p. 18)
For reasons we have assigned, we find and hold that the subordinate
court magistrate had no jurisdiction to deliberate and decide the
matters which were raised before it by the respondents' advocates.
Therefore, the appeal has merit and we allow it. Consequently, we
quash the decision of the High Court, and direct the RM's court to
proceed with the case from where it ended before the institution of
the application for revision in the High Court." (P. 19)
From the foregoing decision, it is certain to us that both the principle
of legality, on one hand and plain meaning statutory interpretation principle,
on the other, were amongst others, applied in arriving at the Court decision.
For the sake of clarity, it is not offensive for us to amplify that-the
principle of legality operates on the parable that since crimes are created by
law, itis a legal prerequisite that their creation must be founded on a system
of law prescribing the substantive criminal law (prohibited or
required
actions) and the law of criminal procedure (prescribed steps for law
enforcement) written down in black and white for compliance to avoid abuse
of powers. Under this principle, Judges and Magistrates have no power to
penalize conduct merely because it is in their view immoral, anti-social or in
some way undesirable but rather should be guided by law and not by the
decisions of individual men. Now as to what extent, if any, the decision in
Farid Hadi Ahmed's case (supra) with the petitioner counsel's quoting
general allegations in advancing the petitioner's case before this Court are
matters that will be resolved in the due course.
Beginning with the complaint mounted against section 9(1) of POTA
that it offends articles 18(b), (c) & (d) and 22 (1) &(2) of the Constitution
for criminalizing a mere possession or access of information obtained
Page 26 of 37
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