KUALA LUMPUR: There is an urgent need to seriously consider setting up an Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to investigate claims of disciplinary offences by the police to eliminate accusations of ‘horror stories’ in lockups, said a High Court Judge Datuk VT Singham.
Singham, who retired recently, said it was time to set up the IPCMC, as recommended by the Royal Commission for Police Reforms, as soon as possible.
The reason being that the public and family members of victims involved had little confidence in investigations carried out by the police, he added.
In his 128-page written judgment which was made available yesterday, Singham said the recommendation for police reforms should not be kept in ‘cold storage’ so that the time and money spent on the setting up of the royal commission and production of the report would bring greater good for the society.
“The power to investigate allegations against police officers, particularly custodial torture or death, must be exercised with great care, caution and circumspection….” he said in the judgment of a suit filed by a mother of suspected
car thief, A Kugan, who died in police custody in January 2009.
Singham said the setting up of IPCMC was necessary due to the sharp rise in custodial violence, torture and death in police custody so that it could be incorporated as a law.
He said there was also the justification for urgency to protect the interests of arrested persons who were taken into police custody.
Police officers, being custodians of the law and public safety, should protect detainees and not to abuse their statutory powers, he added.
He said if there was an abuse of power by a certain police officer and if his unlawful act was not checked and the law failed to apprehend them, the belief by such police officers that no harm could be caused to them by any authority would forever be reinforced. This could lead to the people to loose faith in the prevailing law, as well as the enforcing machinery, he added.
“Custodial death should not become the rule of the day. It is heinous crime perpetrated by the custodians of law.
“If custodians of the law themselves indulged in committing such crimes then no part of the society is safe
and secured,” he said.
He said if police officers became law breakers, it would breed contempt of law and encourage lawlessness.
“In fact, it is desirable, as well as in the interest of justice, to entrust the entire investigations whenever there are incidents of custodial deaths or torture in police custody or other abuse of powers by police officers to an independent agency,” he added.
On June 26, Kugan’s mother, N Indra, won her negligence suit against the government and the police after the court allowed her claim. — Bernama