Man found dead while in custody at Shah Alam lockup

A man was found dead while in custody at the centralised lockup in Shah Alam in the early morning of Sept 11.

The police said the 33-year-old man was found unconscious in a lying position at 4.59am that day.

Emergency medical services were called, and the man was pronounced dead at around 5.20am, said the police.

The deceased was brought to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang for the post-mortem, which was conducted on Sept 12.

“As of now, this case is classified as sudden death, and the criminal investigation unit on deaths in custody (USJKT), the integrity and standards compliance department and Bukit Aman will be conducting the investigation related to this case,” said the police’s corporate communications chief A Skandaguru in a statement yesterday.

The man was first arrested on July 29 under Section 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (1952) and the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.

The case is the 20th death in custody this year.

READ MORE: INTERACTIVE | Death in custody: Can you protect your friend and yourself in police custody?

Group demands inquests

Raising concern, human rights group Suaram said the police's move to form the USJKT to investigate deaths in custody has brought little improvement.

"There were 14 deaths in custody in the first quarter of 2022, but USJKT has failed to provide any progress updates on the investigations after six months have passed.

"The deceased's names and personal details, post-mortem report, physical and mental state when they entered lock-up and the status and progress of investigations are unknown.

"It is as if the police are trying to erase the identity of the victims and depersonalise them, rendering them into mere statistics," Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said in a statement.

He also questioned why only one case was brought to court for prosecution, while just one has been brought to the coroner for an inquest, despite it being required by law.

In recent cases, police said the deaths were due to health reasons, following post-mortem reports.

He noted that the police have not responded to civil society's requests to meet to discuss the matter of investigations into deaths in police custody.

"We stress that all inquests are mandatory and must be done immediately in cases of deaths of custody to avoid any attempts to fabricate or interfere with the crime scene.

"Investigations must be done by a third or independent party, not the police, to avoid interference and conflict of interest.

"It's time for an Independent Police Conducts Commission (IPCC), for which law was recently passed in Parliament, to take over the investigation of deaths in police custody to ensure efficiency, independence and fairness in this matter," he said.

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