by Gobind Singh Deo

The suggestion to set up a special police panel on custodial deaths is clear proof of the fact that the police and the Ministry of Home Affairs have not taken deaths in police custody in the past seriously.

This is strange. There has been a RCI which resulted in the proposal of the IPCMC. Even after this, there have been deaths in police custody which have become the focal point of anger of the nation against the police such as the case of Kugan, Ahmad Sarbani and Teoh Beng Hock. In Teoh Beng Hock’s case, there was also a RCI which came out with specific criticisms and suggestions to solve these problems, to ensure deaths like these do not occur again in custody.

In addition to this, this matter has been raised in Parliament many times and in the last session, the Ministry of Home Affairs assured the house that steps were being taken to solve the problems.

But now we see how it is that this cannot be true. The police are suggesting a committee only now. This must be a joke because whilst people are dying, the police seem to be dragging their feet, saying they will look into it, when in actual fact, they have yet to even set up a committee for this purpose.

The IGP should take the challenge and tell us, until now, what steps have been taken to improve, to ensure deaths in custody don’t occur again? How much of the suggestions and recommendations from the RCI’s of the past have actually been implemented? He should also outline the number of deaths and what action has been taken against officers concerned.

For example, he should tell us why in the case of Dharmendran, no one has been charged as yet despite the medical evidence clearly pointing towards homicide. Merely shifting officers to desk jobs is not at all acceptable. It also smacks of double standards as in other cases arrests and applications for remand are made whereas when it comes to the police, even for the most serious of cases, nothing similar happens.

Until he can convince us that there have been genuine efforts to change, he cannot be taken seriously in his call for a special committee, especially one which is to be headed by he himself.

The IGP must take the bull by its horns. He must push for the immediate implementation of the IPCMC if he wants to see a stop to deaths in custody. Setting up of committees would to my mind, be a step backwards, a waste of time and resources already spent and also a disservice to the recommendations already made. It would have the cumulative effect of further decline of public confidence in any fresh efforts the new IGP hopes to take in order to further enhance the image of our police force. -The Rocket

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.