High Court begins single-judge proceedings under new law
Judge Niyaz heard an appeal filed by the state on Tuesday.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
For the first time ever, a single judge took up a case in the High Court on Tuesday following an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code.
Since the promulgation of the existing Constitution, the High Court has been hearing cases by a bench of at least three judges. However, with the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code passed in parliament in November and which has now been ratified, some cases have been made applicable to even a single judge.
"Today's hearing was conducted by a single-judge bench," High Court’s Information Officer Ameen Faisal tweeted.
"For the first time in the history of the High Court, justice Mohamed Niyaz took up the case as single judge," he tweeted along with photographs of the hearing.
Judge Niyaz heard an appeal filed by the state on Tuesday. This is in response to the acquittal of one of the three accused arrested in the 119 kg drug haul case seized in December 2023.
According to the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, a single judge can deal with the decisions taken by a lower court at the stage of submission before a trial and an order passed by a court at the stage of trial.
