19 deaths in police custody reported since January this year - Bukit Aman

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 19 deaths in police custody have been reported since January this year.

Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) secretary, Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said of the total, nine were deaths in lockups, eight cases involved death at the hospital and two died while being taken to hospital.

She said the death cases were being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Unit on Deaths in Custody (USJKT) under the Bukit Aman Integrity and Standard Compliance Department (JIPS) that was established earlier this year (Jan 1, 2022).

"Forteen of the those who died were Malays, Chinese and Indian (one death each), while three cases involved foreigners namely from Myanmar (two cases) and Indonesia (one case)," she said in a statement today.

She added that out of the 19 deaths reported, one case had been charged in court under Section 323 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same law involving four suspects.

"One case has been referred to the coroner and 17 cases are still under investigation," she said.

Noorsiah said yesterday a meeting was held with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) to discuss the progress of the investigation into the death in custody cases.

According to her, Suhakam, EAIC and representatives of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (Centhra) had also visited the Shah Alam District Police Headquarters centralised lockup to give them a clear view on how it operates.

She said the collaboration with other agencies was part of PDRM's efforts to address the issue of deaths in police custody.

-- BERNAMA