KUALA LUMPUR: If a detainee were to die in custody for any reason, the authority that arrested the dead person will be held responsible and have to prove that it did not cause the death.

This is among proposals by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Com­mission (EAIC).

The commission wants existing laws to be amended to make it compulsory for agencies such as the police, to take disciplinary action and make changes to the way things are done now.

Commission enforcement chair­man Datuk Yaacob Md Sam also wants the burden of proof for custodial deaths to be placed on officers in charge of detainees.

The EAIC, which spends most of its resources investigating com­plaints against the alleged abuse of power by the police, has been criticised of only being able to issue recommendations as the agencies have no legal obligation to adhere to the recommendations.

“The EAIC wants to change this now. Our proposal to the Attorney-General’s Chambers is in the planning stages to amend Section 30 of the EAIC Act.

“We are going to make it compulsory for them to act upon our recommendations,” he said.

Yaacob, a Court of Appeal judge, also said that the commission had pro­posed to the Government to amend the Criminal Procedure Code to include a provision which will put officers in charge of detainees in the hot seat to prove they are not responsible for any deaths.

He added that the provision would also extend to any agency with powers to detain people such as the Immi­­­gration Department and the Malay­sian Anti-Corruption Com­­mission.

The proposal was delivered to the police, A-G Chambers, Home Minis­try, Health Ministry and Go­­vern­­­ment Chief Secretary on April 20, when it released its report on the custodial death of N. Dhar­mendran.

The EAIC found that force from police had caused Dharmendran’s death while in lockup in 2013 and that officers had tried to cover up their involvement by fabricating evidence.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar criticised the EAIC for going public with the re­­port, claiming it was sub judice to the ongoing trial involving the four officers in Dharmendran’s case.

The EAIC has received 997 misconduct against the police since it began in 2011 and have opened 258 cases against the force.

On the same issue, the Malaysian Bar has again called for the Inde­pen­­dent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to be set up, saying that the EAIC had “no bite”.

Speaking at a roundtable on police accountability, Bar president Steven Thiru said while the EAIC had done well in unearthing facts in Dharmendran’s death, it ultimately had no power to act against the police.

Resource : The Star Online