Gobind condemns Jasin police for denying accident report over pant-skirt dress code violation
PETALING JAYA: Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo has strongly condemned an incident where a woman and her daughter were allegedly turned away from lodging an accident report at the Jasin district police headquarters in Melaka because of their attire.
The victims of a car accident were reportedly refused entry to the police station because they were wearing a “pant-skirt”, which officers claimed violated standard operating procedures on dress code.
In a statement today, Gobind said denying a person the right to file a police report based on their clothing was not only an abuse of authority but also an obstruction of justice.
“The fundamental purpose of a police station is to serve the public, protect citizens and facilitate the reporting of crimes and accidents which are required in law,” he said.
“Denying a person the right to file a police report because of how they are dressed is not just an abuse of authority but is also obstruction of justice as persons are required in law in many instances, to lodge reports when incidents occur.”
The DAP national chairman, who is also Damansara MP, said the immediate focus of the police officer on duty should have been to assist the victims in recording the details of the incident rather than turning them away.
“It is therefore the duty of a police officer to facilitate access of persons to police stations for that purpose and not the reverse,” Gobind said.
He emphasised that people do not dress up in anticipation of crime, and clothing cannot be the basis for deciding whether someone can lodge a report.
“What is important is that an incident has occurred which needs to be reported and action needs to be taken to deal with it without delay,” he said.
Gobind called on the Inspector-General of Police to issue a clear directive to all police stations nationwide that no victim or complainant seeking to report an accident or crime should be denied their rights based on their attire.
“The police have no right to impose upon anyone standards which are unilateral, arbitrary and unreasonable. They must instead ensure that all police stations remain accessible to all citizens at all times for the purposes of lodging police reports,” he said.
The minister said he would raise the matter with Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and request that all existing standard operating procedures which deny public access to police stations for lodging reports or investigations be reviewed immediately.
“We must ensure that incidents like these do not happen again,” Gobind added.
