'Cops acted unlawfully in Chandran's death'

 

In a landmark ruling today, a coroner's court in Kuala Lumpur found the police to have acted unlawfully in not giving medicine and medical attention to detainee P Chandran, resulting in his death.

Sessions court judge Ahmad Bache, who sat as the coroner, said Chandran died in the police lock-up before 7.48am on Sept 10, 2012, but the police only noticed and reported it 12 hours later.

"The death of the deceased is due to a hypertensive heart disease and this is due to police not giving or allowing medicine related to his problem," the coroner said.

Ahmad said this could be seen from the CCTV recording from the police cell, which shows Chandran's lifeless body lying motionless alone at 7:48am that day, but the police only officially made the report on the death at 7pm.

He said Chandran had acted not normal while in the process of being remanded further on Sept 9, 2012, where he is seen to be babbling and shouting, resulting in the magistrate that day ordering the detainee to be referred to and given proper treatment at a hospital.

“Unfortunately there was no action by the police to send him to the hospital,” the coroner added.

Chandran, who is from Simpang Renggam, was remanded at the Dang Wangi police station lock-up for four days before his death.

During that period, he was not allowed to take medication that his family members tried to give him, despite they even bribing police officers in Cheras to give him the medication

The 47-year-old was arrested following a police report lodged by an Indonesian woman who said her baby was abducted.

The woman had agreed to give the baby to Chandran's brother-in-law, who is a Muslim, after her birth hospital fees were paid by the adopting party.

Police acted negligently and inhumanely

In ruling negligence on the part of the police, Ahmad described the police actions as inhumane,. He said the evidence pointed towards this, and showed that the police were oblivious in not giving Chandran the required medication or giving him immediate medical attention.

“What was needed was to send Chandran to the hospital to get immediate treatment. In fact, for the duration of his detention, there was no humanity from the police, be it at the Cheras police district or the Dang Wangi lstation lock-up,” he said.

“His death could have been as early as 7:48am, but the report was made only at 7pm. Didn't they enter the cell to give food or drink for lunch and tea,” Ahmad asked, adding that the court is of the view that there could be better supervision of the police cell by the patroller and those manning the CCTV.

This could have avoided the loss of Chandran's life, the coroner added in his 16-page finding.

Two detainees had alerted the police that Chandran required immediate medical attention, but the investigating officer merely replied “he did not think of sending the suspect to the hospital”.

To make matters worse, Chandran's brother, Rahiman Abdul Rashid, who adopted the baby, was also held in the same police station and he is a diabetic requiring dialysis three times a week.

“The court makes a finding of fact that Rahiman did not undergo any dialysis treatment as required. This shows that the police do not care about the welfare of detainees who are sick or to ensure they get treatment,” Ahmad said.

Chandran’s case marks the first time that a sessions court judge in Kuala Lumpur has acted as a coroner, a role previously limited to magistrate.

This follows a practice directive by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria that inquests by a coroner should handled by sessions court judges and not by magistrates.

'Finding a gold standard for the judiciary'

Chandran's family lawyer, M Visvanathan, thanked Ahmad in open court for making the independent finding and hoped that this would be “a gold standard for future inquest cases in allowing the full participation of the family lawyer as well”.

Visvanathan (left, in suit) added, “We are moved by the decision in allowing the family to participate in the inquest and the decision today augurs well for the people's confidence in the administration of justice.”

Bar Council Human Rights committee lawyer N Yohendra said the Bar Council views this development seriously and hopes there is no recurrence of deaths in custody.

Visvanathan also said that following the coroner's finding, the family would decide on whether to file a suit against the police and government.

He said Chandran has six children, four of whom are still schooling, and that he was arrested merely for helping his brother get a baby after the brother agreed to settle the Indonesian women's medical fee.

Coroner iAhmad also noted in his findings that the Indonesian woman had an affair with a Bangladeshi national who worked at a construction project in Cheras.

She became pregnant and when she was in labour, Chandran's friend N Navintharan offered to help and bring her to the hospital, where he stood as guarantor for the hospital bills.

“However, after the failure of the woman and the Bangladeshi boyfriend to pay the hospital bill, Chandran offered to help by contacting Rahimin to pay the fees. Rahimin had no children after 25 years' of marriage,” the coroner said.

Chandran's death created headlines with current PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat announcing that the family was demanding an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.