Family members of A. Kugan grieving at the funeral two days ago in Puchong
KUALA LUMPUR: The family of A. Kugan will accept nothing less than a murder charge against the policemen they say are responsible for the suspected car thief's death while in police custody.
Kugan's uncle V. Raviroy said charging the culprits responsible for the death of the 22-year-old with any lesser charges was unacceptable.
The 42-year-old businessman was responding to an article posted online in a news portal (Malaysiakini) yesterday, which said that that the policemen could be charged with culpable homicide, causing hurt or causing grievous hurt to extort a confession.
Murder carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction, while the sentences for the lesser offences are imprisonment of between seven and 10 years, or life imprisonment for culpable homicide.
"Even the Attorney-General has classified the case as murder. Why would they charge them with anything else?" he asked.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo said the A-G may have absolute discretion on what charges to prefer against those responsible, but not charging the culprits with murder will be met with strong opposition and a public outcry.
Lawyer N. Surendren said he would be very surprised if the policemen involved are not charged with murder because anything else would smack of double standards.
He said previously the A-G had charged 31 protesters with attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ jail, when a stone was thrown at a policeman during a protest involving the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) at Batu Caves on Nov 25, 2007.
"Of course, the charges were later amended (to illegal assembly and causing mischief) but it illustrates bias if the culprits in this case are charged with anything else than murder."
From the nature of the injuries on Kugan, those responsible must have known their actions would kill or likely cause death, which is enough to charge the culprits with murder, he said.
Surendren criticised the police for not keeping the family informed about the investigations into the case.
"The police have never bothered to contact the family and all they know about the case is what they read in the Press."
To date, 11 rank-and-file policemen from the USJ8 police station have been reassigned to desk duty at the Selangor police headquarters pending investigations.
Neville Spykerman
The Malaysian Insider
30/01/09
Kugan's uncle V. Raviroy said charging the culprits responsible for the death of the 22-year-old with any lesser charges was unacceptable.
The 42-year-old businessman was responding to an article posted online in a news portal (Malaysiakini) yesterday, which said that that the policemen could be charged with culpable homicide, causing hurt or causing grievous hurt to extort a confession.
Murder carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction, while the sentences for the lesser offences are imprisonment of between seven and 10 years, or life imprisonment for culpable homicide.
"Even the Attorney-General has classified the case as murder. Why would they charge them with anything else?" he asked.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo said the A-G may have absolute discretion on what charges to prefer against those responsible, but not charging the culprits with murder will be met with strong opposition and a public outcry.
Lawyer N. Surendren said he would be very surprised if the policemen involved are not charged with murder because anything else would smack of double standards.
He said previously the A-G had charged 31 protesters with attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ jail, when a stone was thrown at a policeman during a protest involving the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) at Batu Caves on Nov 25, 2007.
"Of course, the charges were later amended (to illegal assembly and causing mischief) but it illustrates bias if the culprits in this case are charged with anything else than murder."
From the nature of the injuries on Kugan, those responsible must have known their actions would kill or likely cause death, which is enough to charge the culprits with murder, he said.
Surendren criticised the police for not keeping the family informed about the investigations into the case.
"The police have never bothered to contact the family and all they know about the case is what they read in the Press."
To date, 11 rank-and-file policemen from the USJ8 police station have been reassigned to desk duty at the Selangor police headquarters pending investigations.
Neville Spykerman
The Malaysian Insider
30/01/09
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