What has led the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to suddenly change his mind and decide to release notary Deelchand on bail? After nearly two years in prison and several requests for discharge on bail, Vinay Deelchand was finally able to go home last Tuesday. After the Hurnam case at the Privy Council, the DPP may have wanted to avoid being criticised by the Law Lords again for not respecting the rights of a suspect?

In any case, notary Deelchand, now that he is out of prison, says he is ?disappointed? that the judiciary could give any credit to a self-confessed criminal, his former employee, Antoine Chetty. After being arrested by the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (Adsu), the latter had identified his boss, Vinay Deelchand, as the ?owner? of the heroin seized. As from that moment, he went on to confess to a series of crimes and designated his boss as the mastermind behind all these.

<B>Hurnam?s case useful to others</B>

There are eleven provisional charges against the notary among which seven would not have prevented him from being released on bail. Because of the four others ? drug trafficking, two of giving instructions to commit a crime, to wit murder, and one of conspiracy to commit murder ? he was refused bail. These four charges are presently the object of an appeal to the Privy Council.

However, the DPP has chosen not to wait for the Law Lords? judgement before releasing Deelchand. ?This is a good thing for Mauritius. The way the Bail Act is interpreted will change as from now,? reveals a source from the DPP?s office. In fact, recent judicial cases have shown that the situation has actually changed during the last few months. The ruling of the Law Lords on Dev Hurnam?s release on bail may have served the cause of a few others already ? like Yessoo Veeranah who said he had killed his wife ?by accident? at the end of last year.

The new way of interpreting the Bail Act means that the police will have to do their job properly and more quickly. If they take too much time to gather evidence on a suspect, the latter will be released on bail? and may go on with his/her suspicious business.