S Arutchelvan was arrested on Labour Day for illegal assembly and was subsequently told it was for a 1995 theft case. This is a clear-cut case of abuse of power, he says.
KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan wants a public apology from Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar for abuse of power when he was arrested on May 1.
Arutchelvan and about 20 people from a crowd of 400 were arrested for failing to disperse during a Labour Day rally calling for minimum wage and a check against price hikes.
He later found out that he was arrested for a 1995 theft case in Alor Star and was asked to present himself at the Alor Star police station this Saturday.
“I enquired with the Alor Star police station only to find out that the suspect they were looking for was a Malay man with a similar identification card number as mine.
“The only difference is my identification card number begins with the letter A,” said Arutchelvan.
The old identification card numbers are made up of seven digit numbers and
some have alphabets before the numbers.
Accompanied by human rights lawyer N Surendran, former Bar Council president S Ambiga and about 20 activists, Arutchelvan lodged a complaint at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman today.
He said his arrest was a clear case of abuse of power by the police and wants a public apology from Ismail and also wants the police to cancel the bail notice that requires him to be present in Alor Star.
“If they can do something like this to me, I wonder how many other people are being wrongly detained,” said Arutchelvan.
Surendran said: “The police must open an investigation paper as it is an offence on the part of the police (to do what they did) under Section 211 of the Penal Code.”
The section is for false charge of an offence made with the intent to injure. If found guilty, the accused would be liable to imprisonment for a period of two years.
Ambiga, meanwhile, said Arutchelvan’s arrest was not only an abuse of power but was also defamatory.
The day before yesterday, Arutchelvan rubbished the 1995 police report lodged in Alor Star under Section 380 of the Penal Code for theft.
KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan wants a public apology from Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar for abuse of power when he was arrested on May 1.Arutchelvan and about 20 people from a crowd of 400 were arrested for failing to disperse during a Labour Day rally calling for minimum wage and a check against price hikes.
He later found out that he was arrested for a 1995 theft case in Alor Star and was asked to present himself at the Alor Star police station this Saturday.
“I enquired with the Alor Star police station only to find out that the suspect they were looking for was a Malay man with a similar identification card number as mine.
“The only difference is my identification card number begins with the letter A,” said Arutchelvan.
The old identification card numbers are made up of seven digit numbers and
some have alphabets before the numbers.
Accompanied by human rights lawyer N Surendran, former Bar Council president S Ambiga and about 20 activists, Arutchelvan lodged a complaint at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman today.
He said his arrest was a clear case of abuse of power by the police and wants a public apology from Ismail and also wants the police to cancel the bail notice that requires him to be present in Alor Star.
“If they can do something like this to me, I wonder how many other people are being wrongly detained,” said Arutchelvan.
Surendran said: “The police must open an investigation paper as it is an offence on the part of the police (to do what they did) under Section 211 of the Penal Code.”
The section is for false charge of an offence made with the intent to injure. If found guilty, the accused would be liable to imprisonment for a period of two years.
Ambiga, meanwhile, said Arutchelvan’s arrest was not only an abuse of power but was also defamatory.
The day before yesterday, Arutchelvan rubbished the 1995 police report lodged in Alor Star under Section 380 of the Penal Code for theft.
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