Death in custody – S Hendry (Pusat Pemulihan Akhlak Simpang Renggam; 19 Nov 2005)

Six years ago last week, 18-year-old Hendry s/o Sreedhran was found hanged in his cell at the Pusat Pemulihan Akhlak Simpang Renggam, less than 12 hours after he had been transferred to that detention centre.  

Prior to his arrival at the Simpang Renggam detention centre, S Hendry had already been detained at the Kajang police station lock-up for 29 consecutive days under four remand orders.  In each case, he was not charged in court due to insufficient evidence.  On the last day of the fourth remand period, he was released unconditionally but immediately arrested under section 3(1) of the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 (“POPOC”) and detained for a further 60 days at the same lock-up.  

Subsequently, S Hendry was transferred to the Simpang Renggam detention centre pursuant to an order that he be detained for two years under section 4(1) of POPOC.  Within 12 hours, he was found dead.

Pursuant to section 12 of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, SUHAKAM established a three-person Panel of Inquiry, which conducted a public inquiry into S Hendry’s death in custody on 17 and 18 Feb 2006. 

The Panel found, among others, that:

 The continuous 29-day remand period was “excessive and too lengthy”;

 Various provisions of the Lock-up Rules 1953 had been contravened by the Medical Officer and the Police; and

 The personnel at the detention centre, including the warders, the Chief Officer and the Officer-in-Charge, had been negligent and/or had failed to discharge their obligations diligently with respect to many aspects of the detention centre’s operations.

The Panel’s recommended, inter alia, that:

 A legal provision be introduced to set a custody time limit to avoid an accused person languishing in jail for an excessively long period;

 There be strict compliance with section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code (“CPC”), “so that a remand order can only be granted if ‘investigation cannot be completed within 24 hours’ and (emphasis added) there are ‘grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well founded’";

 The Police be advised of the circular “issued in 2003 advising Magistrates that the onus is upon the Police to satisfy the Magistrate that more time is needed to complete investigations, bearing in mind the obligation to submit a diary of proceedings in investigations under section 119 of the CPC and if remand is necessary, short remand periods are to be given”; and

 Section 117 of the CPC be amended “to provide that the Magistrate who makes a remand order, must be satisfied, that upon material produced by the Police, there is sufficient justification linking the detainee to the offence being investigated”.

In July 2009, the Dewan Rakyat was told that some 2,029 detainees died in prisons, rehabilitation centres and immigration detention centres between 2002 and 1 June 2009.  This figure would mean that an average of one person dies in custody in these centres of detention almost every day!

In addition, based on the statistics disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 156 persons died in police custody from the year 2000 until Feb 2011.

We express our heartfelt condolences to S Hendry’s family and friends on this anniversary of his death.