Officer misconduct alleged at Sungai Way police station

comments     Yoon Szu-Mae     Published     Updated

A woman has lodged strong claims of gross abuse of power and misconduct against the Sungai Way police force, claiming that officers assaulted her husband and detained both of them for up to 12 days without attempting to conduct proper investigations or laying a single charge.

K Saraswathy, 26, and her husband were arrested on June 11 outside a cinema in Sungai Way by plainclothes officers, on suspicion of robbery.

In her police report lodged at the Brickfields district police station this morning, Saraswathy said she witnessed her husband being assaulted while at the Sungai Way police station by the officer who arrested the duo.

According to her, the incident was watched by two other officers who did nothing to stop the beatings.

She also claimed the police failed to record any statement from her until the sixth day of her remand on June 17.

And even when her statement was finally taken down, it was conducted just prior to her second visit to the magistrate's court, where her remand was renewed by the magistrate for another six days.

"Throughout all 12 days of my detention, no attempt was made to have me stand in an identification line (for the alleged crime)," she said, who was later released without any charge laid against her.

Meanwhile, her husband R Ravindran, 27 - who had swallowed glass in apparent protest to their detention and was subsequently warded at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre - is now charged with attempting to escape police custody.

The police claim Ravindran had jumped off the seventh floor of the hospital in an attempt to escape and have laid this new charge against the detainee.

Saraswathy in turn, claimed her husband was groggy at the time of the event, and had no recollection of trying to escape.

Serious claim

Lawyers for the pair argue that they should never have been remanded in the first place, when no principal charges have been laid, despite their arrest was made on grounds of committing robbery.

Counsel N Surendran said there should be immediate investigations into the wife's claim that her husband was assaulted by a police officer, while two others looked on.

"Having beaten him up, the police now add insult to injury by laying this charge of 'escaping custody' against him," he said.

"This assault claim is a very serious charge, and the police should act immediately by suspending the officers involved and set up an independent investigation team into the matter."

The duo's case is currently being handled by the Sungai Way police station, but Surendran said the responsibility over this case should be transferred out to independent investigators immediately.

Ravindran is currently placed under remand at the Sungai Buloh prison, and bail was denied on grounds of his 'attempted escape'.

But their lawyers argue that the entire episode of the pair's arrest was founded on bad faith, and should not have occurred in the first place.

As such, the issue of Ravindran being charged with 'attempted escape' should not have arisen if the police conducted their investigations properly, said counsel P Uthayakumar.

"Escape from what? What was his offence in the first place?" he said.

The Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court has set Sept 2 for mention of a case against Ravindran for the alleged attempt to escape from custody.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In