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Death in custody - even criminals have rights
Published:  Dec 31, 2012 9:20 AM
Updated: 4:44 AM

FREE YOURSAY 'Criminal or not, a death in a lock-up is unacceptable; a life has been lost. Do the men in blue have the right to dispose of any and all criminals?'

Man dies from 'fall' in lock up, family in disbelief

your say Fairplayer: This is yet another gross injustice that must be exposed. Died from a fall after only three days in police custody?

If this is not murder, what is it? If this is not social injustice, what is it? If this is not brutality, what is it? Is this a type of social-cum-racial bias? The rakyat demand answers from the police.

My heart cries out for victims like K Nagarajan, who has yet to be proven guilty of whatever crime he is suspected of.

Home minister, what is happening? Prime minister, what have you to say? Police, you are a sickening bunch, along with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Agency (MACC) and the judiciary.

Bystander: Like former DAP aide the late Teoh Beng Hock's case, he could have strangled himself before fatally falling onto the ground in his cell.

This was how the MACC legal department chief explained it during his submission in Teoh's case. No harm trying the same trick if it could be used to resolve cases of such nature in Malaysia.

Plainly Strange: Indeed, that anyone should die from a fall on a flat ground or floor in a police station - that is such a lame, if not garbage, excuse by the police.

Anonymous #82651881: I can accept the fact that the police could have accidentally killed suspected criminals while they were under detention.

They might have been trying a bit too hard in their work. But so many have died in the lock-ups. Something must be terribly wrong.

SP Manan: I am an Indian Malaysian and I have to say that almost all those who are detained by the police are hardcore criminals. The police are not stupid to simply arrest innocent people and detain them, other than these criminals.

They commit various kinds of crime, from house-breaks to rape and murder. To me, the authorities should weed out these unwanted criminal from society.

My family was once robbed of our hard-earned money and a lot of my wife's jewellery that was keep in the safe. Even my 84-year-old mother was not spared.

She was beaten and tied up and was released only after taking her gold rings and some gold bangles. These were all young Indian boys and they have no mercy at all, being under the influence of drugs.

I sympathise with Nagarajan's family for the death in custody, but the criminals are getting more and more notorious by the day.

For those who had commented in these postings, wait till you and your family are ripped off by these rascals, then you will know the feeling of being a victim of crime.

As for Teratai state assemblyperson Jenice Lee, the general election is just around the corners and we all know that you are trying very hard to get some political mileage.

Just wait till you or your family members are robbed, then I want to see what your reaction would be like.

Jean Pierre: Yes, the police are not stupid, but if someone has committed a crime, he should be punished under the law just as anyone else.

James Dean: No one, not even a hardcore criminal should be denied a fair trial. SP Manan, you are just another apologist for our incompetent police force. You don't understand the frustration and hopelessness your community faces.

Dark Knight: What was once a peaceful section of the Indian Malaysian community has now turned to criminal activities to sustain itself.

I am talking about the Indians from plantations who have been dislocated, disenfranchised and left to their own devices by government policies, the MIC, and the actions of crony companies.

Without any support and help, what and where do you think this very poor and displaced Indians turn to? Crime! A lot have become snatch thieves, robbers, and worse, drug addicts, pushers and pedlars who will murder to protect their turf.

Allegedly, they are not working alone in their new-found occupations; there are people in high places and bad cops who support their criminal activities. When caught, they need to be silenced.

Ksn: SP Manan has a valid point. My family were also robbed by a group of parang wielding Indians early in the morning. I was injured on my leg and below the eye.

To know the anxiety, the fear my wife and I went through; others have to go through that. I hope, pray, not.

In Malaysia, I find it very difficult to accept the fact that these criminals have to resort to robbery to find an honest living as there are millions of foreigners in our midst working to earn a living.

No, the robberies by the Indians and others do not happen because they have no choice to survive, they want to take the easy way.

They must pay, and be made to pay. These criminals deserve to die, be killed mercilessly, and I am with the police on this. Do not spare them.

But those arrested should not die in lock-ups. That gives a bad name to the PDRM and the country. Go after the criminals very harshly so that they do not repeat their offences, make examples of them to those who intend to rob, break-in, etc.

I know I sound cruel, but I am not. As Manan says, the trauma of being a victim changes one's perspective irreversibly.

SteveOh: Two wrongs don't make a right. Murder is murder, whoever the perpetrator or the victim is.

The deaths in custody of Indian youths is cause for concern and it is time the police give some decent answers, and it's time the government steps in. No one should accept this deplorable state of affairs.

I feel sorry for the victim and his family. Not everyone in police custody is a criminal. Even criminals have rights, or else we live in a police state and can expect extra-judicial killings.

Hang Tuah PJ: SP Manan, we also have Malay and Chinese robbers and murderers. How come they don't die in police custody, taking into consideration the population ratio by race. How come it seems to be nearly always an Indian?

Senior: Criminal or not, a death in lock-up is unacceptable; a life has been lost. Do the men in blue have the right to dispose of any and all criminals?

What are the courts for then? Why give them a fair trial before we hang drug pushers or murderers?

AnakMalaysia: Whether he is drug addict or a trafficker, his death must be dealt with professionally - no two ways about it.

Indians, Chinese, Malays are all the same, many are good people, a few are bad, but it does not warrant anybody to kill or torture one just because he is an addict. He is a human being, with weaknesses and a sickness, so treat him professionally.

Hopeful123: SP Manan, this is not the time to vent to your frustrations and anger. Have you thought what would happen if you or if any of your loved ones were to be taken custody by the police and died in their custody with suspicious wounds and marks?

Nobody condones violence. I too do not agree on the way the thugs go around robbing and harming innocent people.

But who has allowed all these things to happen? Why were all these allowed to grow into such an immense problem?

If the authorities had been pro-active and acted before it is too late, these things could have been nipped in the bud.

Joe Fernandez: Indians are small-time criminals. The biggest criminals in this country are white-ollar criminals and the politicians in power, the Ah Longs, drug syndicates, illegal immigrants, proxies like Sarawak CM Abdul Taib Mahmud and their stooges.

The criminals in uniforms, i.e. the police, MACC, Special Branch, attorney-general and Election Commission, all support them.

Queenie: "Investigations are under way," say the cops. What are you going to do, draw straws to see who gets the short one to take the rap?


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