KUALA LUMPUR: Autopsy reports on the cause of death of detainees in police custody and the outcome of investigations should be made public if the police expect to be viewed as being transparent.
Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy yesterday said police should also reveal details of the arrest of a deceased detainee.
“The police should state the condition of the deceased when arrested and after, or how he was held. Was there a struggle between him and police at the time? There have been eight cases of deaths in custody just this year. This is a high figure compared with the statistics of past cases revealed by the Home Ministry last year. If this trend continues, we might have 50 such cases by year end. The question is, has there been a steep rise in cases this year or were past statistics given by the ministry inaccurate? The latest case of a detainee dying just two hours after being held by Gombak police is unacceptable,” he said.
Sevan also questioned the number of inquests that have been carried out to date on lock-up deaths.
“Why are inquests on death in custody cases not initiated automatically as stipulated in laws of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)? The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is dragging its feet and the Home Ministry is indifferent in addressing such cases. Why is there no coordination between the ministry, AGC and police when investigating and taking action on cases of deaths in custody?”
He said most of the cases involving lock-up deaths were caused by ill-health of the detainees and this could have been avoided had police strictly observed provisions of Section 10 of the Lock-up Rules 1953, which makes it compulsory for a detainee to undergo a medical examination.
Citizen Action Group on Enforced Disapperance (CAGED) spokesman Rama Ramanathan told theSun that the main concern was that the “police are investigating themselves” in cases of lock-up deaths and that they are under the orders of the AGC and not a coroner.
“The laws in Malaysia are very clear. It is the coroner who is responsible for such investigations and police should report to the coroner anytime there is a sudden death. The police are not telling us if they are reporting it to the coroner. It is also troubling to note that the coroner is also not publishing the status of the cases. It is shocking. The police tell us they are reporting to the AGC but the CPC says the case has to be reported to the coroner.”
He added that Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is in charge of Law and Parliament, had responded to this by saying that police are first required to take up the case with the AGC for instructions.
“The fact of the matter is the law requires the matter to be reported to the coroner. We know from data presented in Parliament that there have been many cases of lock-up deaths that were not subject of an inquest by a coroner. This is a big issue and a contravention of the law. We find the minister covering for the police and AGC unacceptable. He is in denial and the ministers are in cahoots with the police and the AGC. The AGC should make it clear and be firm that the probe should be carried out, handed over to the coroner and not be put to rest without an inquest,” Rama said.
On Monday, a 39-year-old man arrested for drug possession by Gombak police died less than two hours after being detained.
Federal police integrity and standard compliance department director Comm Datuk Azri Ahmad said in a statement that an autopsy conducted at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on the deceased showed that he had died of coronary artery disease and his case was classified as sudden death.
He said investigations on the case by the department are ongoing and the findings will be handed to a coroner.
