Friday, January 28, 2011

MIC too wants independent probe into Kugan's death

The MIC today gave its backing to the A. Kugan family's call for an independent probe into the forklift driver's death while in police custody two years ago, after the police constable accused of causing the death was set free this morning.

In fact, the BN component party's information chief S Murugessan said, the acquittal proved the need for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

Murugessan said in a statement today the number of people brought to book for the "alarming number" of deaths in police custody only showed that the existing system was flawed.
"In circumstances where investigators are from the same body under whose watch a death occurred, the issues of impartiality and transparency arise.

"The number of convictions secured in death under police custody cases speaks volumes of the ineffectiveness of the current system."

Murugessan called on the government to prove its seriousness in dealing with such matters by conducting an independent probe into Kugan's death.


Severe injuries on the body


This morning, police constable V Navindran, 30, was acquitted on two counts of causing grievous hurt to Kugan, 22, while he was in police custody at the Taipan police station interrogation room in Subang Jaya on Jan 19, 2009.

The high profile case stirred a huge public outcry as a result of the severity of the injuries he sustained while detained for five days on suspicion of car theft.

The injuries were discovered after a second post-mortem was conducted, upon the insistence of the family and help from two deputy ministers in the Prime Minister's Department, K Devamany and T Murugiah.

Devamany and Murugiah were questioned by police after they, along with a crowd of protesters, barged into the Serdang Hospital mortuary after the second post-mortem to look at the injuries on the body.

The second post-mortem revealed that Kugan sustained burns, haemorrhaging in his neck, heart and spleen, besides 40 external injuries. The cause of death was kidney failure as a result of the beatings while in custody.

The first post-mortem finding said he died from pulmonary edema, but the cause of the edema was "unknown".

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/154745

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