KOTA KINABALU: Despite the decrease in the number of deaths in police custody to 11 cases last year from 14 in the year before, one death is still too many, said Bar Council constitutional law committee co-chairperson Firdaus Husni. Firdaus, who gave a presentation at the Sabah Law Association and Bar Council task force forum for the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), said that it is imperative for Malaysia to have an independent, transparent, external compulsion tasked solely to receive and investigate complaints of misconduct and abuse against the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM). “The Royal Commission found that police sometimes classify deaths in police custody as ‘accidental deaths,’ which are noted in the Sudden Death Report, thereby bypassing postmortems and inquests for those deaths,” said Firdaus in her presentation. “The Commission also concluded that for any death while in custody, Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) makes it mandatory for an inquest to be held. “However, it was found that inquests were held in only six out of 80 such deaths from 2000-2004.” Firdaus, who is also an IPCMC Bar Council task force member, added that in 22 other cases, either the magistrate or the deputy public prosecutor decided that an inquiry is not necessary, which is contrary to Section 334 of the CPC. “What’s more, official police statistics state that between the year 2000 and August 2012, the Malaysian police shot and killed 394 persons,” she said. “Of those, 96 were killed between 2000 and 2006, whereas from 2007 to August 2012, 298 people were killed.” The IPCMC, said Firdaus, would enhance the ability of PDRM to discharge their duty and to weed out rogue elements in the force, as it would have the power to initiate or instruct police to initiate investigations over reports of misconduct by the police, regardless of whether a public complaint was made. Firdaus had also moderated a discussion with panelists Datuk Gaanesh Nandy, Dato M. Ramachelvam and George Varughese. The forum was also attended by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president and former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.

Source: The Borneo Post