{"id":4568,"date":"2013-03-15T08:22:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T00:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2013-03-14T15:35:26","modified_gmt":"2013-03-14T07:35:26","slug":"alarming-custodial-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/alarming-custodial-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarming custodial deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

IPOH, 13 March \u2014 A 47-year-old man bound for imprisonment was found dead in a police lockup in Kampar on 9 March, marking the fourth case of custodial deaths taking place in the country in the first quarter of 2013.<\/p>\n

According to his family members, M Ragu, an odd-job worker from Malim Nawar near Kampar, was a \u201chealthy man\u201d when he surrendered to the police on 4 March.<\/p>\n

Ragu was tried at the Kampar Magistrate Court on 8 March and should have been sent immediately to the Tapah prison to serve his ten-month jail term after the trial, but he was detained at the police lockup in Kampar instead.<\/p>\n

The police informed Ragu\u2019s family members about his death two days later. Citing a post mortem report by Ipoh\u2019s Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, Perak deputy police chief A Paramasivam later said that the death was caused by \u2018pulmonary embolism\u2019, or sudden blockage in one of the lung\u2019s arteries.<\/p>\n

Police need to be responsible<\/strong>
\n\"\"DAP National Vice Chairman M Kulasegaran, alongside local NGOs and DAP members visited the deceased\u2019s family at the hospital mortuary on 11 March, demanding explanation from the police regarding the unprecedented death.<\/p>\n

Kulasegaran also called for an immediate suspension of the police officers responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge the Inspector General of Police to form a high level independent committee to investigate the deaths in lock up until the IPCMC [Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission] is established,\u201d the Ipoh Barat MP said.<\/p>\n

Kulasegaran, also Member of Parliament for Ipoh Barat, stated that from 2000 to 2011, a total of 156 detainees died in police lockup, with \u201cmany more have died\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last place for a person to die would be the lockup. Many a time detainees have died under mysterious circumstances. But many detainees died due to police brutality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it not right to expect the police to police themselves? Are they so undisciplined?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kulasegaran, himself a lawyer, also suggested that the detention in Kampar police lock up exceeds the jurisdiction of the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to explain why he was detained here [in Kampar] and not sent to the Tapah prison,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Investigate the cases<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, human rights organization Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) said cases of custodial deaths are occurring at an average of one person a month, calling on the authorities to \u201censure an independent and impartial investigation\u201d into all these cases and to \u201cmake the findings public\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement released by SUARAM on 12 March, the organization claimed that the police force and the judiciary \u201ctend to respond swiftly to other cases of murder\u201d, but upon dealing with cases of deaths under police custody, they \u201ccontinue to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sends a chilling message to the public that these deaths do not account and that police personnel can operate above the law with impunity in this country,\u201d said SUARAM person in charge of Police Accountability and Reform Desk, Theva Rajan.<\/p>\n

Theva said that the Officer in Charge of the Police District (OCPD) in areas where these cases occurred must be held responsible as these deaths occurred under their supervision.<\/p>\n

SUARAM once again publicise the list of deaths in custody so far in the country 2013:<\/strong><\/p>\n

14 January: Chang Chin Te \u2013 Died at the USJ8 Police Station, Subang Jaya<\/p>\n

23 January: Sugumaran \u2013 Died while handcuffed on a street in Hulu Langat<\/p>\n

1 February: Mohd Ropi \u2013 Died at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Hospital while under Temerloh police custody<\/p>\n

10 March: M Ragu \u2013 Died at the Kampar Police Station<\/p>\n

SUARAM also called on the police to \u201censure accountability for the so-called \u2018sudden deaths\u2019 of the individuals\u201d, adding that most of the victims were healthy before they were apprehended but lost their lives while under the responsibility of the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to life is a \u2018non-derogable right\u2019 guaranteed in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),\u201d Theva explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever the cases above highlight how personnel from the Royal Police of Malaysia seem to have a lack of respect for this fundamental right and the value of human life.\u201d \u2014 The Rocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IPOH, 13 March \u2014 A 47-year-old man bound for imprisonment was found dead in a police lockup in Kampar on 9 March, marking the fourth case of custodial deaths taking place in the country in the first quarter of 2013. According to his family members, M Ragu, an odd-job worker from Malim Nawar near Kampar, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}