The landmark Criminal Procedures Act has come into effect, Sunday. This is the first time a codified legal set of guidelines related to criminal procedures have been implemented in the Maldives.
The Criminal Procedures Act was first submitted to Parliament by Member of Parliament for Thulusdhoo Constituency Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim (Wadde). The bill was passed by parliament on the 18th of April, 2016. President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom ratified the Criminal Procedures Bill on the 2nd of May, 2016.
The bill was scheduled to come into effect on the 17th of January 2017. However, after deciding that personnel from relevant institutions need to be familiarized with the bill before is implementation, the date for implementation was postponed. The amendment bill to postpone the implementation of the act was proposed to parliament by Member of Parliament for South Maafannu constituency Abdulla Rifau.
The government attributed the decision to postpone the implementation of the Criminal Procedures Act, the mammoth changes the bill would bring to the criminal justice system and the need to train personnel to adjust to the prospective changes. The amendment was passed by parliament majority on the 21st of November 2016. This amendment which was ratified by the president on the 24th of November dictated that the law would come into effect on the 2nd of July, 2017.
Consisting of 30 chapters, the Criminal Procedures Act dictates procedures to be followed during all criminal investigations, criminal prosecution and criminal trials. It lays out specific rules for law enforcement agencies and the courts from filing a complaint, to investigations, pressing charges, trial, conviction, request for clemency and filing an appeal. The main objective of the act is to ensure the rights of the accused relevant to the pursuit of justice throughout the process, from his arrest until the ultimate conclusion of the trial.