The majority of victims who die in police custody are Malay. However, Indian cases are most frequently reported in the media.
Stereotypically, Indian Malaysians are regularly depicted as the most powerless against death while in police detainment. However, the same analysis has found that there is massive underreporting of deaths in police custody in the media, particularly those involving Malays.
Overall, there were 257 deaths in police custody between 2002 and 2016, according to official statistics provided by the Home Ministry in a parliamentary reply on March 28, 2017.
Sources: Suaram database on deaths in police custody.
However, in light of Suaram's information, just 62 of these cases were accounted for in the media and to itself which means that only about one in four cases of deaths in police custody become public knowledge, while the rest go largely unnoticed.
The majority of victims who die in police custody are Malay. However, Indian cases are most frequently reported in the media and to Suaram.
The official figures state that 23.4 percent of victims who die in police custody are Indians. However, the proportion of Indian victims recorded by Suaram, the country's leading NGO in tracking custodial death cases, is more than twice as much, at 54.8 percent.
Sources: Suaram database on deaths in police custody.
On the other hand, although Malays comprise the majority of the official death toll at 42.4 percent, their cases were disproportionately underreported, only making up 17.7 percent of cases reported in the media and to Suaram.
The figures for other groups are: 18.3 percent (official) versus 16.1 percent (reported) for Chinese Malaysians; 12.8 percent (official) versus 6.5 percent (reported) for foreign nationals, and 3.1 percent (official) versus 1.6 percent (reported) for other Malaysian minorities. In 3.2 percent of cases, Suaram was unable to determine the victim’s ethnicity.
Here are some of the death cases that took place in Malaysian Police Custody
S Balamurgan. Pic from FMT News.
S Balamurgan (Died Feb 8, 2017)
Balamurugan, 44, was found dead at the Klang Utara police headquarters (IPD) in Selangor on Feb 8, 2017. On the 6th of February of 2017, Balamurugan was arrested in the evening with two of his friends on suspicion of car theft
The two friends arrested together with Balamurugan testified to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) that they saw Balamurugan being slapped in the face and punched in the chest during questioning.
Balamurugan's family, who had wanted to see him at the Bandar Baru Klang police station prior to his transfer, also testified that they had heard screams of pain.
Balamurugan's feeble state was seen when he was delivered before a judge on the morning of Feb 7, 2017 to be remanded. The magistrate denied the remand and requested Balamurugan to be sent to a medical clinic.
However, police brought him back instead to the North Klang district police headquarters, where Balamurugan was found unconscious by 11pm. He was declared dead at 12.10am.
EAIC chairman Datuk A. Aziz A. Rahim said the public hearing involving 46 witnesses in Balamurugan's death found several serious non-compliance with the SOP, including the failure of the police to release the man after a remand application was rejected by the magistrate's court.
The first autopsy carried out at the Klang Hospital indicated Balamurugan had died of “heart problems”. However, the second autopsy confirmed that his death was a result of “coronary artery disease with multiple blunt force injuries”.
A. Kugan’s family weeping over his body. Image from legalandprudent.blogspot.my
Kugan Ananthan (Died 20 January 2009)
Kugan Ananthan was an individual Royal Malaysian Police prisoner who died in the police lock-up while under arrest for doubt of supposed vehicle theft. Kugan's family had to forcefully break into the morgue where Kugan's body was kept. They believe he had been tormented to death while in police custody. His case was later classified as murder by the Attorney-General, and 11 officers at the station where he died were transferred to desk duty. The Inspector-General of Police has promised a full investigation into Kugan's death.
During the press conference held by Kugen family’s lawyer, N.Surendran, he mentioned that the past statement given by the police and the first post-mortem report stated that Kugan died of fluid accumulation in his lungs whereas the second report shows that he had died of acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis.
The post-mortem report also stated that Kugan sustained more than 10 severe burn wounds on his back probably as a result of being burnt by an extremely heated V-shaped iron bar.
"Almost the entire part of his back is covered with contusions, beating marks and bruises," said Surendran, adding that the report also indicated that Kugan "was starved during the entire time he was tortured."
The High Court discovered Inspector-General of Police (then the Selangor police chief) Khalid Abu Bakar, Khalid's predecessor as national police chief, Ismail Omar, and three different respondents subject for misfeasance prompting his passing in the wake of discovering logical inconsistencies among Khalid's and other witnesses' declarations. The High Court granted his mother RM851,700 in threatening behavior, bogus detainment, misfeasance, and torment and enduring harms
Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur credits to MalaysiaKini
Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur (Died on Nov 3, 2014)
Syed Mohd Azlan, a 25-year-old welder, was arrested in the early hours of November 3, 2014 on suspicion of rioting and possession of a weapon two weeks earlier. He was found unresponsive when he was about to be transported to the Kota Tinggi district police headquarters at 7.15am.
In 2018, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) said police personnel had beaten Syed Mohd Azlan while in custody, adding that it found 61 wounds on his body that were consistent with defensive injuries.
Police also claimed Azlan admitted to possessing the gun and was taking drugs when they arrested him. EAIC concluded this testimony was "questionable". No gun or drugs were found or confiscated.
Three policemen — Weddrin Mojingkin, Joshua Perait and Muhammad Bunyamin — were charged under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which is punishable with jail up to 30 years and a fine. However, they were found not guilty at the Sessions Court. In 2019, the High Court upheld their acquittal.
Despite their release from the criminal proceeding, High Court Judge Datuk See Mee Chun ruled in favor of Syed Mohd Azlan’s family. In her ruling, the judge said the police are duty-bound to uphold the law and keep the nation’s peace and security.
Five years after his death, the High Court awarded the family of Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur RM448,000 in compensation and damages.
In conclusion, the statistics shown by the Malaysiakini (Apr, 2018) reveal that the present system is not workable, or else the figures should have come down. These alarming statistics once again highlight the need for an overhaul of the whole system to tackle the problem. The instances of custodial death due to police brutality are a significant issue. Whenever death occurs in custody, it raises the public interest and draws in media attention. It is one of the most exceedingly terrible wrongdoings in a general public administered by the standard of law, and represents a genuine danger to an orderly civilized society
Torture in custody infringes the basic rights of the citizens and is an affront to human dignity. Death in custody due to police brutality must STOP! The Courts must play a pivotal role in countering death in custody cases. The Courts should award substantial damages once liability is established in a civil suit regarding death in custody
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