Naran Singh & Co.

On the court record

Naran Singh & Co. appears in the reported judgments as a criminal-defence practice, acting most often as counsel for the accused and for appellants, with its work spread across the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan). Drug prosecutions under the Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 (Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Act 234) dominate its corpus. The recurring pattern is the defence of charges under seksyen 39B (trafficking) — including cases in which the accused was ordered dilepas dan dibebaskan di akhir kes pembelaan (discharged and acquitted at the close of the defence case) — and the handling of multiple possession and trafficking counts where the accused pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under the reduced provisions of section 12(2) read with section 39A. A further procedural strand concerns the introduction of fresh evidence during an appeal in the High Court (pengemukaan keterangan baru semasa rayuan), and appeals against conviction and sentence more generally. The firm's criminal work is not confined to drugs: it has appeared in a corruption matter concerning the acceptance of gratification, and in an appeal engaging the misconduct provision in section 165 of the Penal Code. Acting overwhelmingly on the defence side, and carrying matters both at first instance and on appeal, the firm occupies the comparatively uncommon position of a private practice devoted to defending serious criminal charges — principally drug offences with severe mandatory consequences — against prosecutions conducted by the Timbalan Pendakwa Raya (the Deputy Public Prosecutor). Its corpus is, in effect, a record of the defence side of the drug-enforcement docket. Where an accused pleads guilty to a reduced possession charge in place of a trafficking count, the firm's work turns to mitigation and the appropriate sentence; where the defence is fought to the end, it turns on whether the prosecution proved possession, knowledge and the statutory elements beyond reasonable doubt. The occasional corruption and misconduct matters broaden the picture slightly, but the firm's defining contribution to the corpus is its steady appearance for individuals facing the most serious drug charges, both at trial and on appeal.