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Man dies while in custody of Malaysian police
Fri May 24, 2013 3:19PM GMT
Relatives grieve over the body of N Dharmendran, a 31-year-old ethnic Indian, who died in police custody.
He was detained on May 11th when he went to the police station to file a report following a fight.
Ten days later while he was still in police custody he died. The police blamed his death on an asthma attack.
But the post mortem showed that the man died as a result of severe beating and that his wounds were fresh.
Police have now reclassified the case as murder.
Malaysia former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi pushed for the creation of an independent commission to investigate allegations of police wrongdoing. But it never materialised in the face of strong opposition from the police.
According to official statistics, there were 147 deaths in police custody in 2012.
In most of the cases of alleged police brutality, the victims were ethnic Indians although they only make up eight percent of the population.
But Dharmendran’s death has renewed calls for the creation of an independent body to monitor the police, even from supporters of the ruling coalition.
The police said they will set up a task force to try to identify who is responsible for Dharmendran’s death.
But that would bring little comfort to his family.
PressTV - Man dies while in custody of Malaysian police
Man dies while in custody of Malaysian police - YouTube