The inquest into the death of C Sugumar will shed
light on the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the police, which
have to date been kept under wrap with the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
This comes after coroner Azahari Abdul Hamid yesterday allowed an application for the Inspector-General of Police's standing order on arrest and use of reasonable force during arrest to be presented at the inquest.
Lawyer Eric Paulsen (right),
who is acting on behalf of the Sugumar’s family, said he made the
application based on recent judgments on police brutality cases.
“We had used the Kugan judgment, which states that police SOP is for the scrutiny of the court. We also used the recent Noorizan Salleh judgment that states the shooting of her was a breach of the SOP.
“This means that the SOP is under the purview of the court,” Paulsen said when contacted.
He was referring to the civil suit won by family of death-in-custody victim A Kugan and the case of Noorizan, who was awarded RM300,000 in a civil suit against the police after she was shot five times.
OSA not applicable to court
The Human Rights Watch in a report on police brutality earlier this year said the Inspector-General's Standing Order (IGSO) - a document that also governs the use of firearms - is classified as an official secret.
However, Paulsen believes that classifying the document under the OSA does not stop the courts from scrutinising it.
“Admissibility
of documents (in court) is based on the Evidence Act and the rule of
evidence is much more relaxed in an inquest,” he said.
According to Paulsen, the IGSO on arrests is particularly pertinent to this inquest as the deceased had died while handcuffed in the midst of an arrest.
On Wednesday, eye-witnesses testified that police personnel in full uniform and boots had stepped on Sugumar's neck for about two minutes until he stopped struggling.
The post-mortem report states that Sugumar, who had yellow powder smeared on his face, died of a heart attack.
The inquest continues on Oct 2.
This comes after coroner Azahari Abdul Hamid yesterday allowed an application for the Inspector-General of Police's standing order on arrest and use of reasonable force during arrest to be presented at the inquest.
Lawyer Eric Paulsen (right),
who is acting on behalf of the Sugumar’s family, said he made the
application based on recent judgments on police brutality cases.“We had used the Kugan judgment, which states that police SOP is for the scrutiny of the court. We also used the recent Noorizan Salleh judgment that states the shooting of her was a breach of the SOP.
“This means that the SOP is under the purview of the court,” Paulsen said when contacted.
He was referring to the civil suit won by family of death-in-custody victim A Kugan and the case of Noorizan, who was awarded RM300,000 in a civil suit against the police after she was shot five times.
OSA not applicable to court
The Human Rights Watch in a report on police brutality earlier this year said the Inspector-General's Standing Order (IGSO) - a document that also governs the use of firearms - is classified as an official secret.
However, Paulsen believes that classifying the document under the OSA does not stop the courts from scrutinising it.
“Admissibility
of documents (in court) is based on the Evidence Act and the rule of
evidence is much more relaxed in an inquest,” he said.According to Paulsen, the IGSO on arrests is particularly pertinent to this inquest as the deceased had died while handcuffed in the midst of an arrest.
On Wednesday, eye-witnesses testified that police personnel in full uniform and boots had stepped on Sugumar's neck for about two minutes until he stopped struggling.
The post-mortem report states that Sugumar, who had yellow powder smeared on his face, died of a heart attack.
The inquest continues on Oct 2.
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