On 21/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 21/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 21/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 24/08/2012.
PART V
PREVENTION OF OFFENCES
41.
—(1) When a person is charged with and convicted of —
(a)
rioting, assault or any other breach of the peace or abetting any such offence;
(b)
an offence under section 143, 144, 145, 153, 504 or 510 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224) or under section 13A, 13B, 13C or 13D of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (Cap. 184);
(c)
assembling armed men or taking other unlawful measures for such purpose; or
(d)
committing criminal intimidation by threatening injury to any person or property,
and the court before which he is convicted believes that that person must execute a bond for keeping the peace, then the court may, at the time of passing sentence on that person, or instead of any sentence, order him to execute a bond for a sum proportionate to his means, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace for a period not exceeding 2 years.
(2) If the conviction is set aside on appeal or otherwise, the bond so executed becomes void.
42.
—(1) If, during or after a trial, the court considers that a complainant is or has been behaving in such a way that he should be ordered to execute a bond to keep the peace, the court may require him to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond to keep the peace for a period not exceeding 2 years.
(2) The evidence which the court relies on under subsection (1) must be read to the complainant, but it shall not be necessary to recall any witness unless the complainant desires to cross-examine the witness.
(3) The court may deal with this proceeding either as part of the case out of which it has arisen or as a separate proceeding.
43. If it appears to a court that a person is likely to breach the peace or do a wrongful act that might lead to a breach of the peace, the court may require that person to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond to keep the peace for a period not exceeding 2 years.
44.
—(1) A court may require a person to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond for his good behaviour for a period not exceeding 2 years, if it appears to the court that —
(a)
the person is trying to conceal his presence and there is reason to believe that he is doing so with a view to committing an offence;
(b)
the person has no apparent means of supporting himself or is unable to give a satisfactory account of himself; or
(c)
the person orally or in writing disseminates or tries to disseminate or in any way helps to disseminate —
(i)
any seditious matter, that is to say, any matter whose publication is punishable under the Sedition Act (Cap. 290) or any material which forms the subject matter of a charge under section 267C, 298A or 505 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224); or
(ii)
any matter concerning a Judge or a judicial officer amounting to criminal intimidation or defamation under the Penal Code.
(2) No proceeding shall be taken under subsection (1)(c) except with the consent of the Public Prosecutor.
45. A court may require a person to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond for his good behaviour for a period not exceeding 2 years, if it appears to the court that —
(a)
the person habitually commits offences;
(b)
the person habitually associates with robbers, housebreakers, thieves, prostitutes or people who have no apparent means of subsistence; or
(c)
the person is so desperate or dangerous as to pose a risk to the community when at large.
46. Where a court acting under section 43, 44 or 45 considers it necessary to require any person to show cause under the section, it must make an order in writing setting out —
(a)
the information received on which the court is acting;
(b)
the amount of the bond to be executed;
(c)
how long the bond will be in force; and
(d)
the number of sureties, if any, required.
47.
—(1) If the person subject to an order under section 46 is present in court, the order must be read to him or, if he wishes, explained to him.
(2) If the person subject to the order is not present in court, the court must issue a summons requiring him to appear or, if he is in custody, a warrant instructing the officer in whose custody he is to bring him before the court.
(3) The court may issue a warrant for a person’s arrest if the court is satisfied that, based on a police officer’s report or other information, there is reason to fear a breach of the peace and that this can be prevented only by the person’s immediate arrest.
(4) A copy of the order under section 46 must accompany every summons or warrant issued under subsection (2) or (3).
(5) The copy of the order must be delivered by the officer serving or executing the summons or warrant to the person served with or arrested under it.
48. The court may, if it has good reasons, dispense with the personal attendance of a person subject to an order under section 46, and permit him to appear by an advocate.
49.
—(1) When an order under section 46 has been read or explained under section 47(1) to a person present in court or when a person appears or is brought before the court in compliance with a summons or in execution of a warrant under section 47, the court must then inquire into the truth of the information on which it has acted and will take further evidence as appears necessary.
(2) The inquiry must follow as closely as practicable the procedure prescribed in this Code for conducting trials, except that no charge need be framed.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person’s habitual offending may be proved by evidence of his general reputation or in other ways.
50.
—(1) If after an inquiry under section 49, the court is satisfied that the person subject to the order must execute a bond in order to keep the peace or maintain good behaviour, the court must make such order as is appropriate.
(2) The bond may be with or without sureties and —
(a)
must not be larger than the amount or longer than the period specified in the order made under section 46; and
(b)
the amount of the bond must be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the case and shall not be excessive but must be such as to afford the person against whom the order is made a fair chance of complying with it.
(3) If the court is satisfied that a bond is not necessary, the court must release the person subject to the order.
51.
—(1) If any person subject to an order under section 41 or 50 is, at the time the order is made, sentenced to or undergoing imprisonment, the period for which the security is required will begin at the end of that sentence.
(2) In all other cases, the period will begin on the date of the order.
52.
—(1) The bond to be executed by any person subject to an order under section 41 or 50 shall, as the case may be, bind him —
(a)
to keep the peace; or
(b)
to be of good behaviour.
(2) In the case of subsection (1)(b), it is a breach of the bond to commit, attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence punishable with imprisonment.
53. A court may, in its discretion, refuse to accept any particular person offered as surety under this Part.
54.
—(1) If a person ordered to give security under section 41 or 50 fails to do so by the date on which the period for the security is to begin, the court may commit him to prison for a period not exceeding the period for which the security is ordered to be given.
(2) If the person referred to in subsection (1) is already in prison, he shall stay there until the end of the term that the court has determined under subsection (1) or until he gives the security as ordered, whichever is the earlier.
55.
—(1) When a court decides that a person imprisoned for failing to give security under this Part may be released without danger to the community or to another person, the court may order that person to be released.
(2) A court other than the High Court shall not exercise this power except in cases where the imprisonment is under its own order or that of a similar court.
56.
—(1) Any surety for the peaceable conduct or good behaviour of a person may at any time apply to a court to cancel any bond executed under this Part.
(2) On receiving the application, the court must issue a summons or warrant, as it thinks fit, requiring the person for whom that surety is bound to appear or to be brought before it.
(3) When that person comes before the court, the court must cancel the bond and order him to provide adequate security for the remaining term of the bond.
(4) Every such order referred to in subsection (3) shall be treated as made under section 41 or 50 and in such a case, sections 52 to 55 shall apply accordingly.
57.
—(1) A police officer may command an unlawful assembly or an assembly of 5 or more people likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace to disperse, and the members of the assembly must then disperse.
(2) Nothing in this Division shall derogate from the powers conferred on any person under the Public Order Act 2009 (Act 15 of 2009).
58.
—(1) If any such assembly does not disperse as commanded, or shows a determination not to disperse, any police officer may disperse the assembly by force and, if necessary, arrest and confine the participants, and may require any male civilian to help.
(2) In this section, “civilian” means any person who is not a regular serviceman, full-time national serviceman or operationally ready national serviceman who has reported for service in the Singapore Armed Forces.
59. If any such assembly cannot be otherwise dispersed and it is necessary for the public security that it should be dispersed, the Minister or the Commissioner of Police or a Deputy Commissioner of Police may cause it to be dispersed by military force.
Minister or Commissioner of Police or Deputy Commissioner of Police may require any officer in command of troops to disperse unlawful assembly
60.
—(1) When the Minister or the Commissioner of Police or a Deputy Commissioner of Police determines to disperse any such assembly by military force, he may require any commissioned or non-commissioned officer in command of any sailors, soldiers or airmen in the Singapore Armed Forces or in any visiting force lawfully present in Singapore to disperse the assembly by military force and to arrest and confine the persons forming part of it as the Minister or Commissioner of Police or the Deputy Commissioner of Police directs or as it may be necessary to arrest and confine in order to disperse the assembly or to have them punished according to law.
(2) Every such officer shall obey such requisition in such manner as he thinks fit, but in so doing he shall use as little force and do as little injury to person and property as is consistent with dispersing the assembly and arresting and confining those persons.
61. When the public security is manifestly endangered by any such assembly and when neither the Minister nor the Commissioner of Police nor a Deputy Commissioner of Police can be communicated with, any commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces or in any visiting force lawfully present in Singapore may disperse such assembly by military force and may arrest and confine the persons forming part of it as it may be necessary to arrest and confine in order to disperse the assembly or to have them punished according to law, but if while he is acting under this section it becomes practicable for him to communicate with the Minister, the Commissioner of Police or a Deputy Commissioner of Police, he shall do so and thereafter obey the instructions of the Minister, the Commissioner of Police or the Deputy Commissioner of Police as to whether he shall or shall not continue the action.
62. No prosecution against the Minister or any police officer or officer, sailor, soldier or airman in the Singapore Armed Forces or in any visiting force lawfully present in Singapore for any act purporting to be done under this Division shall be instituted in any criminal court except with the sanction of the President, and —
(a)
no police officer acting under this Division in good faith;
(b)
no commissioned officer acting under section 61 in good faith;
(c)
no person doing any act in good faith in compliance with a requisition under section 58 or 60; and
(d)
no inferior officer, sailor, soldier or airman or member of any of the Singapore Armed Forces or of any visiting force lawfully present in Singapore doing any act in obedience to any order which under naval, military or air force law he was bound to obey,
shall be deemed thereby to have committed an offence.
63.
—(1) Any police officer who has reasonable grounds to suspect that any offence may be committed may intervene for the purpose of preventing and must, to the best of his ability, use all lawful means to prevent the commission of the offence.
(2) Without affecting the generality of subsection (1), a police officer may act in any manner (including doing anything likely to cause the death of, or grievous hurt to, any person) if the police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that —
(a)
the person (whether acting alone or in concert with any other person) is doing or about to do, something which may amount to a terrorist act; and
(b)
such act by the police officer is necessary to apprehend the person.
(3) In this section —
“lawful means” includes removing a person from any place and taking away any thing which the person has in his possession which the police officer reasonably suspects is intended to be used in the commission of the offence;
“terrorist act” means the use or threat of action —
(a)
where the action —
(i)
involves serious violence against a person or which endangers a person’s life;
(ii)
involves serious damage to any building or structure;
(iii)
creates a serious risk to the health or the safety of the public or a section of the public;
(iv)
involves the use of firearms or explosives; or
(v)
involves releasing into the environment or any part thereof, or distributing or otherwise exposing the public or any part thereof to —
(A)
any dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substance;
(B)
any toxic chemical; or
(C)
any microbial or other biological agent, or toxin; and
(b)
where the use or threat of action is intended or reasonably regarded as intending to —
(i)
influence or compel the Government, any other government, or any international organisation to do or refrain from doing any act; or
(ii)
intimidate the public or a section of the public.