-R. Thevarajan, Right to Justice Coordinator, August 16, 2012.
SUARAM
strongly condemns the Royal Malaysian Police on the death of one Cheah
Chin Lee, 36, on the 13th August 2012. Cheah was pronounced dead at or
about 5:20 am at Jalan Pattani Northeast police headquarters.
The report of the post mortem stated that Cheah died as a result of
“Asphyxia due to hanging”. The family was in shock and disbelief,
questioning why Cheah would hang himself barely 5 hours in detention.
The family asserted that Cheah was mentally stable and held a permanent
job. It begs the question as to why a suspect, upon being detained, dies
in the lock-up. Have the lock-ups all over Malaysia turned into the
gallows already?
The police, as reflected in past records, were brutal and violent to
suspects and former suspects have lost their lives in police custody.
Whenever a complaint is lodged, the standard response from the police is
that the deceased died due to his/her health problems. In this case, it
appears that the police have attributed Cheah’s death to suicide.
The Lock-up Rules 1958 provides that an Officer-in-Charge is
responsible for taking care of detainees at any time. We hereby demand
the Officer-in-Charge to produce his daily journal for scrutiny
immediately, failing which, the allegation of tampering with evidence by
the Officer-in-Charge is inevitable. The Officer-in-Charge must have
recorded the entire allegation in his daily journal, if there was one on
duty at the material time. The police must be held accountable and
responsible for causing the death of suspects under their custody.
We place considerable weight on the statement by Georgetown OCPD Gan
Kon Meng who had earlier stated that there would not be any cover-up in
investigation. According to a report in Malaysiakini, Gan stated that
“…The papers would include recommendations for an inquest and further
instructions on how to proceed with the case…”
Recently however, in an application for judicial review made by the
family of another victim, Gunasegaran a/l Rajasundram, High Court Judge
Y.A Tuan Hj Kamardin Hashim pointed out that investigations should be
conducted by police from different districts to ensure transparency and
conflict of interest.
Notwithstanding, SUARAM maintains that any investigation on police’s
misconducts must be performed by an independent and external body i.e
the desirable IPCMC. In the absence of IPCMC, the police will always be
“investigated” by their own peers.
It is in the best interest of the public that a proper investigation
be conducted followed by the setting up of a Coroner’s Court for an
independent inquest, the findings of which must be disclosed to the
public. Otherwise, the public will hold the Officer-in-Charge and/or
police liable for Cheah’s death.
SUARAM will continue to push for the formation of Independent Police
Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to bring justice to Cheah’s
family and to prevent future deaths in police custody, even if it falls
on deaf ears.
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