Section 12: Security for keeping the peace

(1)Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I is informed that any person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, the magistrate may, in the manner hereafter provided, require that person to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace for such period, not exceeding one year, as the magistrate thinks fit to fix.

(2)Proceedings shall not be taken under this section unless either the person informed against, or the place where the breach of the peace or the disturbance is apprehended, is within the local limits of that magistrate’s jurisdiction.

(3)When any magistrate not empowered to proceed under subsection (1) has reason to believe that any person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, and that such breach of the peace or disturbance cannot be prevented otherwise than by detaining that person in custody, that magistrate may, after recording his or her reasons, issue a warrant for the person’s arrest, if he or she is not already in custody or before the court, and may send the person before a magistrate empowered to deal with the case, with a copy of the magistrate’s reasons.

(4)A magistrate before whom a person is sent under this section may, in his or her discretion, detain the person in custody until the completion of the inquiry hereafter prescribed.