High Court Judge Priscilla Chandra-Hanif today declined an interim application filed by Attorneys for the Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed for him to be granted bail.

Instead, the High Court Judge indicated that she will rule next Tuesday on the substantive application for judicial review, which challenges the decision of Magistrate Abigail Gibbs not to grant bail to the Opposition Leader in a cybercrime related case.

Justice Chandra-Hanif reasoned that although interim bail would not formally quash the Magistrate’s decision, its practical effect would be to displace the immediate operation of that decision by admitting the accused to bail before the Court has determined whether the refusal was legally defective.

She said the particular circumstances of the application require considerable caution, explaining that the grounds advanced in support of the interim bail substantially overlap with the grounds upon which the applicant – Bonita Mohamed – seeks to establish the Magistrate’s refusal to grant bail was unlawful.

“To grant interim bail upon those grounds at this stage would create a substantial risk of the Court appearing to have prejudged the very issues it is required to determine in the substantive proceedings. Such a course would be especially undesirable where the substantive application can be brought before the Court final determination within a very short period,” Justice Chandra-Hanif ruled.

However, Justice Chandra-Hanif acknowledged that the Court faced two legitimate and competing concerns. She said on the one hand, the continued detention of an unconvicted person pending the determination of a challenge to the refusal of bail, and on the other hand, the premature granting of bail without first determining whether the Magistrate’s decision was legally defective, which, she said, may compromise the fairness and integrity of the judicial review process.

The High Court Judge said neither consideration may automatically prevail over the other, and in the circumstance took a decision to expedite the hearing and determination of the substantive application for judicial review.

“The Court does not suggest that an expedited hearing automatically cures or renders insignificant the prejudice occasioned by continued detention. The deprivation of liberty remains a matter of the highest constitutional importance. Nevertheless, the availability of a substantive determination within a short and defined period materially affects the proportionality of the interim relief sought,” the Judge said.

As part of that ruling, Justice Chandra-Hanif issued strict timelines ahead of her decision on Tuesday afternoon.

The Judge, however, made it clear, that her decision to decline the interim application for bail should not be construed as a decision on the substantive application.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Court makes no final finding in this ruling concerning the merits of the Applicant’s substantive entitlement to relief, the lawfulness of his continued detention pursuant to the impugned decision, or the allegations relating to the conditions of his detention. Those matters must be considered, if and insofar as properly before the Court, in the appropriate proceedings and upon the applicable legal principles and admissible evidence,” the High Court Judge said.

The decision was welcomed by both the Attorneys for the Applicant – Roysdale Forde, Siand Dhurjon and Damien Da Silva, as well as by the Attorney General.

The Attorneys for the Mohameds told reporters that the ruling amount to a win for them, explaining that that in the absence of bail, they sought an expedited hearing, and that was granted.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General said told reporters that the law must take its course.

Meanwhile, in two other matters, the High Court struck down portions of the Affidavits submitted by both the Leader of the Opposition and his mother Bonita Mohamed. However, those Affidavits and the substantive application still stand.

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