Malaysians do not feel safe as they still die under police custody.

Kugan’s family upset by constable’s acquittal

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

January 28, 2011

N. Indra, Kugan's mother

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — The family of A.Kugan are deeply disappointed that the man accused of causing his death was acquitted by the Petaling Jaya Session Court this morning.

Judge Aslam Zainuddin found constable V.Navindran not guilty of causing grievous hurt to the 23-year old, since the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case.

Kugan’s aunt, Renuka Subramaniam, told reporters that the family is still seeking for justice over his death.

“We are really not satisfied with the decision. We as Malaysians do not feel safe as we can still die under police custody.

“We have been mourning the loss of our son for over two years and today his mother wants to know what has happened him. What we can tell her?” she said while sitting beside Kugan’s mother.

Navindran, 28, was charged for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extract a confession from the 23-year-old Kugan, who died at the USJ police station lock-up on January 20, 2009.

Kugan’s death sparked a nationwide uproar and reinforced the public’s general lack of faith in the police force.

Many critics have pointed out that Kugan’s death was one of the many custodial deaths in Malaysia, mostly involving Indians detained by police, which further alienated the community.

Kugan died after being held for five days in police detention to aid investigations over the theft of luxury cars.

The death was initially classified as sudden death and attributed to water in his lungs according, to an initial post-mortem report.

However, the case was reclassified as murder following public outcry.

A second post-mortem was conducted at the insistence of his family, and pictures from it released online indicated Kugan had suffered severe injuries on his body. This supported widespread belief that he was tortured while in police custody.

The reluctance on the part of the police to allow a second post-mortem and the significant differences in the two reports, including descriptions of the extent of injuries and the actual cause of death, has also raised accusations of an attempted cover-up.

Following Kugan’s death, 11 rank and file policemen were transferred to desk duty at the Selangor police headquarters.

PKR vice president and lawyer N. Surendran also confirmed that family is requesting for a royal commission of inquiry over Kugan’s death.