The Lagos State House of Assembly has amended the state’s Criminal Justice Law to bar the Nigerian police from parading suspects before the media.

The state assembly passed the amended version of the law with a voice vote at a sitting presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni on Monday.

 “As from the commencement of this law, the police shall refrain from parading any suspect before the media,” Section 9 of the amended bill read.

The bill also restrained security agencies from effecting arrests without warrants except if the individual is suspected to illegally possess firearms and other dangerous instruments.

The newly passed bill also barred security agencies from arresting a person “in lieu of another, a development that contradicts the state’s Unlawful Societies and Cultism (Prohibition) Bill 2020.

Recall that Lagos the state assembly in February passed the Unlawful Societies and Cultism (Prohibition) Bill 2020 seeking to punish parents for their children’s crimes.

The speaker said the punishment was to prohibit further unlawful societies and cultism, including other connected purposes in the state.

The new bill further stipulated that suspects must  not be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading, adding that suspects must be brought before the court as prescribed by existing laws or released conditionally or unconditionally.

After the voice vote, the assembly’s  clerk, Olalekan Onafeko, was directed to transmit the bill to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for assent.