KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC and MCA yesterday asked the government to take a serious view of deaths in police custody and called for the setting up of an appropriate mechanism to safeguard the rights of all detainees.
MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said detainees should not be confined to the local police stations but should be transferred quickly to the respective state police headquarters and a lawyer should be appointed to care for and visit the detainees in the lockups.
“Detainees should be treated fairly and the penalty to be imposed on the accused should be determined by the court and not the police,” he said in a statement.
Palanivel issued the statement following the custodial deaths of three Malaysian Indians over 11 days recently.
Meanwhile, MCA Youth Education Bureau chairman Chong Sin Woon urged the relevant authorities to probe the incidents of deaths in police custody and reveal the truth to the public as well as to bring about justice.
“Having three deaths in less than two weeks is detrimental to the credibility of our police force and, as such, we cannot afford to leave these cases unresolved,” he said in a statement. — Bernama