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KUALA LUMPUR – Human rights groups have called for transparent investigations to be conducted over the two deaths that occurred under police custody in the span of a week.
This follows the report of a detainee’s death in IPD Taiping on January 13 as well as another fatality in the Pengkalan Chepa police station in Kota Baru, Kelantan, yesterday.
“This is something that is highly worrying and shows the high rate of such deaths in Malaysia which may be previously underreported,” Suaram said in a statement.
“Custodial deaths are an important issue of public interest and important information regarding the investigations must be made public.”
Earlier today, Bukit Aman confirmed the death of a 37-year-old Malay man who was arrested under Section 12(2) and Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
In a statement issued by Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department director Datuk Azri Ahmad, the detainee who died yesterday at 4.35pm was under a four-day remand from yesterday to Wednesday.
Azri said an investigation into the death will be conducted by the department’s Criminal Investigation Unit on Deaths in Custody.
Last week, police confirmed that a local man suffered sudden death in custody at the Taiping police headquarters lock-up on the morning of January 13.
Azri had said the 63-year-old inmate from Taiping Prison was being temporarily placed at the lock-up for a court hearing.
He added that the man was charged on April 18 last year under Section 379A of the Penal Code for stealing a motor vehicle and Section 324 for causing injury using a weapon.
In response, Suaram said the cause of deaths have yet to be made known to the public, although post-mortem procedures must be carried out.
“We also want to know, have the families of the victims been informed of these deaths?”
The group said although the death in Taiping has led to the arrest of two police officers, their alleged involvement in the case was not revealed, which has raised questions among the public.
It added that an inquest must be carried out over every custodial death in line with criminal code procedures.
Another group called Eliminating Deaths And Abuse In Custody Together (Edict) said it was disappointed with the two deaths, adding the situation was “concerning”, given the frequency of fatalities that occurred over the span of days.
It said although arrests have been made over the first case, authorities must bring the results of preliminary investigations to the coroner’s court to allow its judge to carry out a probe in accordance with the criminal code.
“Edict also wishes to remind the police to launch and carry out investigations fairly and transparently before sending its findings to the coroner’s court,” it said in a separate statement.
“Edict deeply regrets the number of deaths in police custody, which has become very concerning in the first month of 2022.”
The group added that it hoped police would take steps to reduce the number of custodial deaths this year. – The Vibes, January 17, 2022