High Court has overturned Criminal Court's ruling to reject several evidences submitted in connection to the 72 kg drug bust in Maldives.
Criminal Court had decided last month to reject 44 evidences filed against 10 individuals in connection with the 72kg drug smuggled by sea in December 2020. The evidences were were rejected because the lead detective on the case, Irfan Thagiyyu, had submitted pretrial motions along with the documents.
The Criminal Court had also decided to disclose all remaining evidence as the state had not sought a permanent order to seal the evidence.
When the case was appealed by the state, the High Court ruled the Criminal Court did not clarify the reason the evidence was rejected, which is due procedure.
High Court ruled that Criminal Court should have provided the opportunity for both sides to speak, and to state how the decision was made. In organised crime like this, it is important to consider evidences that indicate the crime was in fact organised beforehand.
They also said the Criminal Court's ruling to disclose the remaining evidences were wrong. Their ruling was made because the state had not applied to permanently seal the records.
High Court ruled that it was not mandatory for the state to obtain an additional permanent order as a temporary order to protect evidence had been issued earlier.
The Criminal Court's decision was overturned by the High Court with the majority vote of Judge Mohamed Faisal and Judge Hussain Majeed.
Judge Fathimath Faruheeza's opinion on the matter deferred, as she said the state could not say why the Criminal Court's decision not to accept evidence. However, she too agreed that the decision to disclose the evidences to the public was wrong.
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