Justice Navindra Singh yesterday ruled that the private criminal charge against former president Bharrat Jagdeo, filed in April this year by attorney Christopher Ram, did not disclose an offence and therefore the magistrate who heard the matter had no jurisdiction.
The judge made abso-lute the writ of prohibition that had been issued by Justice William Ramlal on June 26th, 2015 against Magistrate Charlyn Artiga hearing the matter.
Following Ram’s complaint, Jagdeo had been charged with making racially divisive statements in contravention of Section 139 D of The Represen-tation of the People Act. He was accused of making the statements at a public meeting held at Babu John, Corentyne on March 8th, which could have resulted in racial or ethnic hatred among the people.
