By Prof P Ramasamy
LET us make one thing clear. Deaths in custody cannot be stopped without an independent authority to investigate misconduct by the police.
The public may not be fully convinced that the Home Ministry will be serious to investigate the recent deaths of three persons while under custody; milk vendor A Ganapathy, security guard S Sivabalan and the latest being Surendran Shanker.
The first two died in police custody in Gombak, and the last died in Simpang Renggam.
Ganapathy and Sivabalan were in their 40s, whereas Surendran was only 21 years old.
All the three cases happened within a month, with the families of the deceased suspecting foul play and demanding immediate investigation.
In the last two decades or so, although the figure given by the Home Ministry may not be accurate, there have been more than 200 deaths, majority being police custodial cases and lately there have been death in prisons.
In terms of ethnic breakdown, the majority affected could be Malays, although many of the cases might not have gone unreported due to certain reasons.
In terms of population, Indians have high number of custodial deaths, but those without relatives or next of kin might have gone unreported.
However, given the disproportionate deaths of Indians to their population, there is a perception that deaths in custody mainly involve Indians particularly the members of the working class.
Moreover, the failure of the police or the prison authorities in not updating custodial deaths, gives the impression that these deaths are not significant and do not factor in the overall calculation of things.
As I have repeatedly said before, custodial deaths emanating from those in detention are premised on the belief that remand detainees are by definition, guilty of the crimes that are allegedly involved in.
So, the police or prison authorities attempt to extract information of the detainees’ alleged crimes.
And unfortunately, unprofessional and harsh methods are used to get this information. Such methods result in causing grievous and bodily harm to the detainees resulting in the deaths of some.
Judge, jury and executioner
The use of unprofessional methods in extracting confession or information from detainees is enhanced by the perception that the authorities, especially the police, are beyond the law as many of the officers are seldom held accountable.
This is why despite calls by human rights organisations for the setting up of an independent body to investigate police misconduct has never been taken seriously by the Government or the police themselves.
The point is simple: without an independent authority to investigate police misconduct and recommend punishment, there are no ways to hold the police responsible for their misconduct or to stop deaths in custody.
Asking the Government of the day to probe police misconduct is just as good as asking the Home Ministry or the police to investigate themselves.
This will lead nowhere to break the repeated cycle of custodial deaths. The families, relatives and the public want nothing less than an independent body such as the Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to investigate police misconduct.
If the Government is not serious about an independent investigative body, what faith can the public have on investigating custodial deaths further?
The police are meant to protect ordinary citizens, but the continuous deaths in custody, indicates that the public will have little faith in the police.
There is a widespread feeling, especially among those detained, that they might not get justice if they have been labelled as criminals even before a full investigation is conducted and charged in the court of the law.
And who gave the police powers to combine the multiple roles of prosecutor, judge and executioner?
Apart from the immediate factors behind the custodial deaths, the toxic political, cultural and social atmosphere is not conducive to prevent deaths in custody as well.
Racial and religious discrimination, a particular perception of ethnicity, about Indian involvement in crimes, the prevailing disdain and contempt on the part of authorities towards members of the working class and above all, a racial and religiously polarised society are factors that might do little to reforming Government institutions. – May 30, 2021.
Prof P Ramasamy is the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang and Perai state assemblyman.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
