Until the deaths of A. Kugan and Teoh Beng Hock this year, the death in police custody of Francis Udayappan was probably the most widely known.
Francis died on 24th May, 2004.
Police say he had escaped whilst in remand at the Brickfields police station, and, they would have us believe, he drowned in the Klang river whilst attempting to make his escape.
One person has never believed the official version of Francis’ death.
Madam Sara Lily, Francis mother, has always refuted the police version of his death, contending that Francis had been violently assaulted by the police prior to Francis’ death.
She pursued this contention, and lost, at the inquest, in 2006. The coroner ruled that there was no evidence of foul play.
Sara filed an application to the High Court to review the coroner’s finding.
That was heard and dismissed in November, last year.
I understand that she has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
She has also launched a RM29 million suit against the government and 11 others for negligence resulting in Francis death.
In her own words, “How can my son die and allegedly escape while in police custody? I will not rest until I get justice”. You can read about this in a Malaysiakini report HERE.
Francis is one of 1,805 cases of deaths in police custody since 2003 that were remembered on the night of 28th July, 2009, at the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, where a memorial was held in memory of these death in custody victims.
As part of that evening’s program, the organisers had put together two powerpoint presentations.
I was not prepared for what was about to unfold before us during that presentation.
The organisers have very kindly made the second presentation available to me so that I might share it with you.
It comprises in all 163 slides. It’s linked below.
I’d urge you to first view the whole slide presentation before you continue reading the rest of this post.
Please.
As I watched the slides countdown from death in custody case no. 1805 down to 1, I was numbed.
Then shame came over me.
And then I broke down.
Of the 1805, only 60 whose names were known.
And of the 60, most were faceless names.
What of the mothers of these many, circumstanced like Madam Sara?
Were they, albeit unnoticed, fighting for justice for their dead?
Or had they given up on the system of justice and the citizenry ever affording them the truth of why their loved ones were dead?
I left the memorial that night troubled at how, even after Francis case had drawn so much attention to the issue of death in police custody cases, civil society had been seemingly oblivious to three deaths in custody every four days even as Francis case was making its way through the courts.
Had the mainstream media so effectively blacked out news of these deaths?
Or were we simply apathetic?
Gunasegaran’s awaits an inquest.
Beng Hock’s inquest is ongoing
Ghana Pragasam?
Kugan?
We cannot ignore this anymore.
Something must be done.
I’d like to have your thoughts, before I give mine.
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