No News Is Bad News
For image info, go to https://m.aliran.com/civil-society-voices/2014-civil-society-voices/end-police-abuses-malaysia (End police abuses in Malaysia)
Police abuse of power, brutality continue to plague the force
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30, 2023: Over the past decades, so many allegations have been hurled at the police for bullying or causing deaths.
Some cases were brought to court and, unfortunately, some of the bullying cops were found guilty, thus the public negative stigma on the Polis di-Raja Malaysia.
Police abuse of power and brutality continue to plague the force.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below one such case today which the Court of Appeal found the cops liable for the death of a lockup detainee:
Police liable for death of detainee in lockup, court rules
Court of Appeal awards aggravated damages due to the negligence and lackadaisical attitude shown by the police.
V Anbalagan - 30 Oct 2023, 4:51pm
Lawyer M Visvanathan explaining to V Santhi and P Vathian the outcome of the case, with lawyers R Karnan (right) and V Sanjay Visvanathan (left) looking on.
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has entered judgment against the police and government for negligence over the death of a businessman detained in a Shah Alam police lockup five years ago.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng ruled that businessman S Thanabalan’s widow, V Santhi, and father, P Vathian, had sufficiently discharged their burden of proof on the totality of evidence.
“We find that the High Court was wrong in its failure to consider the findings of fact by the coroner’s court,” said Lee.
However, the bench affirmed the lower court’s finding that there was no misfeasance in public office.
Lee said an award of aggravated damages was justified on the facts of the case as Thanabalan had been denied timely access to medical attention.
The award was also made due to the deplorable conditions of the lockup which saw Thanabalan detained in a cramped cell with no access to clean water.
“The defendants’ flimsy excuse cannot be accepted as an excuse for the delay (in providing medical care). An award of aggravated damages is to send a strong message of the court’s abhorrence to the defendants’ lackadaisical attitude and negligence,” he added.
Lee who sat with Justices Supang Lian and Azhahari Kamal Ramli, said the award of aggravated damages also included compensation for pain and suffering.
The bench also remitted the matter to the High Court for assessment of damages.
Santhi, 43, and Vathian, 74, were also awarded RM50,000 in costs for the proceedings in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Lee, who read the court’s broad grounds of judgment, said the defendants were negligent for failing to send Thanabalan to the hospital as soon as possible.
Thanabalan was only taken to the hospital after he fainted in the lockup at 8.30pm in April 2019, but was pronounced dead upon arrival,” the judge said, adding that the facts showed a two-and-a-half-hour delay on the part of the police.
The defendants also failed to adduce any standard official procedure in evidence to show that only officers specifically assigned to cases involving the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) were allowed to escort such detainees to hospital.
“The detainee had been under the control of the police. Therefore, the defendants must exercise their discretion accordingly,” he said.
Lee said the defendants’ explanation that they were unable to ferry Thanabalan to a hospital, which was only five minutes away, due to a lack of manpower, was “unreasonable” and could not be accepted.
He said a post-mortem report certified Thanabalan’s cause of death as leptospirosis, which is normally associated with the consumption of food and water infected with the leptospira bacteria found in rat urine.
Lee said there was evidence that the deceased’s cell was infected by the bacteria during his arrest and detention.
The judge also said the cells in the lockup were not functioning properly as the detainees had no access to clean water.
“Clean drinking water was only given three times a day when meals are provided. Therefore, a reasonable inference is to be made as to the deplorable conditions of the cell as leptospirosis can be easily contracted from drinking water from the toilets,” he added.
The judge noted that an inquest held in 2020, which found that the cause of infection was a result of consuming contaminated water, was not challenged by the defendants.
“The fact that the closed circuit television recording was not produced by the defendants would warrant an adverse inference being drawn,” he said.
Santhi filed the action in 2021 on behalf of herself, their two children and her husband’s estate. Vathian is the co-administrator of the estate.
They sought damages, including for bereavement, a dependency claim, and funeral expenses.
Thanabalan was pronounced dead at the hospital, two weeks after he was arrested and held in remand for alleged involvement in a secret society.
Lawyers M Visvanathan, R Karnan and V Sanjay Visvanathan represented Santhi and Vathian, while senior federal counsel Syakimah Ibrahim and federal counsel Ashraf Abdul Hamid appeared for the government.
Police Brutality in Malaysia; Block in the Road of Humanity
Source: Malaysia to probe protest police brutality claims
The police are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining peace, ensuring the people’s safety and to enforce the law. Police are held to a higher standard because of their responsibility. Yet in recent months, cases of police brutality have come under the spotlight, both internationally and in Malaysia. The term brutality stands for any physical or psychological harm done to a person. That being said, what is police brutality? If you relate back to what brutality stands for, it is when any police officer uses excessive and unnecessary force in any situation, it can be accounted as police brutality.
Police brutality is occurring in many countries, including developed countries as well. It is a matter of regret that Malaysia is no different when it comes to police brutality. Malaysia, like the rest of the world, has been battling COVID-19 since 2020, but in parallel, there is another battle — against police brutality. At the same time when many Malaysians stood in solidarity with the Americans for the Black Lives Matter movement, violence against Malaysians by the police was happening in our own country. Malaysia must confront their own baggage of police violence, a serious violation of human rights which should not go unpunished. Many Malaysians appear to be unaware of such concerns occurring in their own backyard, hence it is vital to have discussions regarding the country’s own law enforcement.
The victim, if not dead, suffers for the rest of their life. There are multiple alleged horrifying cases of police brutality in Malaysia. S. Mahendran, a 30-year-old Indian-Malaysian man was arrested and placed under police custody on suspicion of armed robbery. Mahendran said he was assaulted and tortured by police officers rubbing his genitals with chili paste. He was also stripped naked and forced to lay on ice cubes. He received threats against his daughter and mother. Luckily Mahendran survived, but there are many more unreported cases where people have died in police custody.
S. Balamurugan was arrested back in 2017 and died in police custody after he was “slapped in the face and assaulted in the chest during questioning” at the police station. While in custody, his relatives could hear him cry in pain. The magistrate sent Balamurugan to the hospital during his remand hearing, citing his ailments and deficiencies. Balamurugan was instead sent back to the police station, where he received no medical attention. The recent case of A. Ganapathy, a cow milk trader, sparked national outcry when the man died, possibly as a result of abuse while under the custody of the Gombak police station.
Source: Deaths In Malaysian Police Custody
Racism in the police force, true or false?
Reports disagree with each other about whether the police are actually targeting only Indians. Official figures say that the majority victims are Malay, at 54.8% and Indian victims make up 23.4%. In the media, Indian Malaysians are often portrayed as the most vulnerable to death whilst in police detention. However it is important to note that Indians are disproportionately represented in such deaths. While the Indian Malaysians make up 6.4% of the population, they make up almost a quarter of deaths related to the police.
The supposed underreporting of death of Malays in police custody has also gone unnoticed. According to official information presented by the Home Ministry, there were 257 deaths in police custody between 2002 and 2016. Only 62 of these cases were reported on by the media. Since most cases reported by the media involved Indian Malaysians, it formed the misconception that the police were racially targeting Indians. Although the majority of the victims are Malay and Indians, it shouldn’t be chalked up to solely being a racial issue, but as a societal problem involving the violation of human rights.
Deaths in Police Custody by Ethnicity
Source: Deaths in Malaysian Police Custody
Right now, only the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) is active and responsible for all enforcement officials, including those from the Immigration Department, the Labour Department, and others. However, because its powers are limited to investigating cases and conducting investigations, the organisation can only make recommendations as to what action should be taken. As a result, the suitable disciplinary action might not be taken and officials are not held accountable. Hence, in order to better regulate the police force and prevent further cases of police brutality, the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) needs to be established.
What is IPCMC?
The IPCMC would be an independent organization tasked with investigating complaints of police abuse of authority and enforcing appropriate disciplinary measures against errant officers. Proper inspection of police officers will foster a sense of police accountability as well as increased transparency within the department. One of the many promises made by the Pakatan Harapan government was to implement the IPCMC, and it was not fulfilled. The question now is why has IPCMC not been established yet, and when it will actually be implemented? Since Malaysia is going through a pandemic, and eradicating the virus is the government’s top priority now, any discussions about IPCMC have been largely ignored. However, many human rights groups are pressuring the government to implement the IPCMC as soon as possible.
A petition on Change.org, titled “PDRM Gagal, IPCMC Now: End police brutality and misconduct in Malaysia”, garnered 24,497 signatures and was addressed to the Home Affairs Ministry and its minister, Hamzah Zainudin. IPCMC needs to be established right now to make the police force and its officers responsible for their actions. If no independent body like IPCMC is established to hold the police accountable for their crimes, the never-ending struggle against police brutality will erupt: a pandemic within a pandemic. Police brutality in Malaysia would grow into a permanent societal illness if no prompt action is taken, with more lives lost at the hands of the police and zero accountability. This violation of human rights needs to stop; the people of Malaysia deserve to live without fear of the very people meant to protect and serve.
[Written by: Ramisa Nuzhat]
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