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Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Death in police custody – S Kalaiselvam (Sultan Ismail Hospital; 22 Nov 2010)

One year ago today, 21-year-old S Kalaiselvam died at the Sultan Ismail Hospital, Johor Bahru, Johore, reportedly of a suspected lung infection.  S Kalaiselvam had been held under the Emergency Ordinance at the Kota Tinggi police station from 21 Sept 2010.  

His father claimed the police had neglected to ensure S Kalaiselvam received adequate treatment for the chest pains and appetite loss he had suffered for over a month.

The Johor Bahru High Court ordered a second post-mortem and an inquest into S Kalaiselvam’s death.  However, at the time of writing, no further details on the inquest were available in the media. 

Every death in custody must be thoroughly and impartially investigated.  S Kalaiselvam’s death must not be relegated to a mere statistic.  
 
Based on statistics disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 156 persons died in police custody from the year 2000 until February 2011.

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

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